Translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and validation of the sino-nasal outcome test (snot)-22 for Finnish patients

Anni Koskinen; Sari Hammarén-Malmi; Jyri Myller; Marjukka Mäkelä; Elina Penttilä; Timo Pessi; Tuomo Puhakka; Antti Raappana; Rami Taulu; Sanna Toppila-Salmi; Paula Virkkula; Maija Hytönen

doi:10.1007/s00405-020-06297-w

Translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and validation of the sino-nasal outcome test (snot)-22 for Finnish patients

Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2021 Feb;278(2):405-410. doi: 10.1007/s00405-020-06297-w. Epub 2020 Aug 20.

Authors

Anni Koskinen¹, Sari Hammarén-Malmi², Jyri Myller³, Marjukka Mäkelä⁴, Elina Penttilä⁵, Timo Pessi⁶, Tuomo Puhakka⁷, Antti Raappana^{8

9}, Rami Taulu¹⁰, Sanna Toppila-Salmi¹¹, Paula Virkkula^#², Maija Hytönen^#²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otorhinolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, PO Box 263, 00029, Helsinki, Finland. anni.koskinen@hus.fi.
² Department of Otorhinolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, PO Box 263, 00029, Helsinki, Finland.
³ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Päijät-Häme Central Hospital, Lahti, Finland.
⁴ Section of General Practice, Department of Public Health, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Kuopio University Hospital and University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
⁶ Elisa Oyj, Healthcare Solutions, Helsinki, Finland.
⁷ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁸ Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland.
⁹ PEDEGO Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
¹⁰ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Tampere University Hospital and University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
¹¹ Skin and Allergy Hospital, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: The Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 (SNOT-22) is the most commonly used disease-specific quality of life questionnaire in rhinology. The purpose of this prospective study was to translate and validate SNOT-22 into Finnish.

Methods: The validation process followed the guidelines proposed for cross-cultural adaptation of health-related measures of quality of life. The study consisted of three groups: rhinologic out-patients (N = 96), FESS patients (N = 49) and healthy controls (N = 79). Out-patient and FESS groups completed the questionnaire twice (answers A and B), out-patients after two weeks and FESS patients after 3 months. Validity, reliability and responsiveness were evaluated.

Results: The mean SNOT-22 sum score of the out-patient questionnaires were 35.3 points (answer A) and 32.4 points (answer B). ICC in out-patient group was 0.879. For the FESS patients, the mean pre- and postoperative (answer A and B) SNOT-22 sum scores were 46.8 and 21.9 points, respectively (p < 0.0001). The mean SNOT-22 of healthy controls was 8.9 points. The out-patients (answer A) and healthy controls had statistically significant difference in SNOT-22 scores (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: The results of our study show that the validated Finnish version of the SNOT-22 questionnaire demonstrates good validity, reliability and responsiveness.

Keywords: HRQoL; SNOT-22; Sino-nasal outcome test; Translation; Validation.

MeSH terms

Chronic Disease
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Finland
Humans
Prospective Studies
Quality of Life
Reproducibility of Results
Rhinitis*
Sino-Nasal Outcome Test
Sinusitis*
Surveys and Questionnaires