Health-related quality of life in patients receiving Hymenoptera venom allergy therapy

Abstract

Background: The impairment of the quality of life in patients with hymenoptera venom allergy is a field that has not been deeply investigated yet. In 2002 the Vespid Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire was developed. Starting from this questionnaire, the development of a disease-specific instrument in Italian language to measure health-related quality of life in patients receiving hymenoptera venom immunotherapy is the primary objective of this study. Methods: The new questionnaire (76 items, 10 sub-scales) is given together with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory form Y (STAI-Y) and the SF-12 Health Survey in order to support the construct validity. The questionnaire was given to 104 patients: 75 male and 29 female, age between 17 and 76, all of them receiving immunotherapy in Feltre, Italy. Findings: Results support preliminary validation of the tool: most of the sub-scales have good internal consistency with alpha range between .60 and .90. The factor validity of the tool has been evaluated. The convergent validity shows that there is a good correlation among the questionnaire sub-scales but there is a low correlation with the other tools: Only social interactions and holidays scales show p-value < .05 with SF12 and STAI-Y1. Discussion: This first contribute suggest that there is a need of this specific measure since it seems different from the measures analyzed by the STAI-Y and SF-12 tools. The new tool may offer a deeper and different view in the interpretation of medical outcomes by hymenoptera venom allergic patients.