Validation of the MASK-rhinitis visual analogue scale on smartphone screens to assess allergic rhinitis control

: Caimmi D, Baiz N, Tanno LK, Demoly P, Arnavielhe S, Murray R, Bedbrook A, Bergmann KC, De Vries G, Fokkens WJ, Fonseca J, Haahtela T, Keil T, Kuna P, Mullol J, Papadopoulos N, Passalacqua G, Samolinski B, Tomazic PV, Valiulis A, van Eerd M, Wickman M, Annesi-Maesano I, Bousquet J

Publisher: WILEY

: 2017

: Clinical and Experimental Allergy

: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGY

: CLIN EXP ALLERGY

: 47

: 12

: 1526

: 1533

: 8

: 0954-7894

: 1365-2222

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cea.13025

Background: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) is a validated tool to assess control in allergic rhinitis patients.Objective: The aim of this study was to validate the use of VAS in the MASK-rhinitis (MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel NetworK for allergic rhinitis) app (Allergy Diary) on smartphones screens to evaluate allergic rhinitis symptoms and disease control.Methods: Each user filled 4 different VAS measuring overall, nasal, ocular, and asthma symptoms at least once. Following COSMIN guidelines, we evaluated internal consistency, (Cronbach's alpha coefficient and test-retest), reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients), sensitivity, and acceptability of the MASK-Rhinitis VAS.Results: Between 1 August 2015 and 31 July 2016, the app was used 14 612 times in 15 countries. A total of 1225 users used it more than once, during the evaluated period. The tool resulted to be statistically satisfactory, showing excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's test > 0.84, test-retest > 0.7), reliability (> 0.9), and acceptability. In addition, the tool had a good sensitivity when users (n = 521) answered the VAS twice in less than 3 hours.Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: The MASK-rhinitis VAS is a reliable and valid tool to assess allergic control on smartphone screens, at the population level.