[Development and validation of the Tonsillectomy Outcome Inventory 14].

BACKGROUND

Until now, no validated instrument to measure disease-specific, health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in adults with chronic tonsillitis (CTO) exists.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

After an item reduction of the alpha-version of the Tonsillectomy Outcome Inventory (TOI), the TOI-14 resulted. In addition to the total score, it includes the subscales throat problems, overall health, resources, and social-psychological restrictions. In phase 2, the TOI-14 was prospectively validated on 108 adults with CTO, who had undergone a tonsillectomy.

RESULTS

The TOI-14 had, on average, good reliability. It included all important aspects of the HR-QOL. Patients with CTO can be distinguished with high sensitivity from healthy subjects. All scores showed moderate to good correlation with the subjective limitation in quality of life. The sensitivity of the questionnaire demonstrated major effects postoperatively.

CONCLUSION

The TOI-14 constitutes the first worldwide-validated, disease-specific instrument to measure HR-QOL in adults with CTO. Due to its ease of use, it can be utilized both in the outcome research and in clinical routine.