The patient's burden of chronic venous disorders: construction of a questionnaire

Abstract

Aims On the one hand, the survey aims at the development and validation of an auto-administered questionnaire designed to measure the everyday burden caused by chronic venous disorders (CVDs). On the other hand, it aims at reporting initial epidemiological and demographic data in CVD patients and their correlations. Materials and methods After identification of 66 possible items, the elimination of redundant and less relevant questions left a questionnaire of 36 simple items, the Assessment of Burden in Chronic–Venous Disease (ABC-V) that has been applied prospectively and consecutively to a population of 328 actual chronic venous disorder (CVD) patients in eight vein-specialized centres in France. Questionnaires were completed by patients at home and returned by mail (free return envelopes). Results Significant correlation has been found between ABC-V, the Specific Quality of life & Outcomes Response – Venous (SQOR-V) and the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), demonstrating the validity of the concept. ABC-V has been found increased by age ( P = 0.0127) and body mass index ( P < 0.001), not by gender ( P = 0.8758). Conclusion ABC-V is a first tool to assess the burden of CVDs, it provides with individual data and will help, for instance, determining the weight of the coefficient used in the disability-adjusted life year and quality-adjusted life year formulas, thus ensuring an accurate evaluation of the Global Burden of Chronic Venous Disorders.