R-Scale for Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF): a simple, visual tool for the assessment of health-related quality of life

RationalePatients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) experience impaired health related quality of life (HRQoL). Several tools have been developed to objectively assess HRQoL in this patient population, but none are in use in routine clinical practice.ObjectivesTo develop a rapid, specific tool that can be used for patients with IPF during routine clinic visits.MethodsA novel and simple 5-item numerical rating scale (NRS) was developed and compared with two other previously validated tools. 100 consecutive patients with IPF managed at the center for ILD, were recruited to complete the R-Scale-PF, the Kings Brief Interstitial Lung Disease Questionnaire (K-BILD), and the EuroQol 5-Dimensional 5-Level Questionnaire (EQ-5D-5 L) in addition to pulmonary function and 6-min walk tests.Measurements and Main ResultsAll 100 patients successfully completed the three HRQoL tools with 53 completing them again at follow up visits. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's α 0.825) with minimal floor/ceiling effect. Concurrent validity of the R-Scale-PF was moderate to high compared with the K-BILD (r=−0.713) and the EQ-5D-5 L (r=−0.665). Concurrent validity was moderate with physiologic measures (forced vital capacity, r=−0.307, 6-min walk distance, r=−0.383). The R-Scale-PF demonstrated good known-groups validity when comparing scores across stages of disease severity.ConclusionsThe R-Scale-PF correlates well with the K-BILD and EQ-5D-5 L. It is hoped that this novel simple NRS tool subject to validation in patients from other centers will provide the opportunity to objectively measure HRQoL in routine clinical practice for patients with IPF.