Global airways – a novel Standard Tests for Asthma, allergic Rhinitis, and chronic Rhinosinusitis (STARR-15)

Abstract

Background: Global airway disease, with symptoms from both upper and lower airways, is a challenging problem for clinicians. Our goal is to design one single standard test for the awareness of global airway diseases to be used in clinical setting. Material and Methods: During 2019, rhinologists and pulmonologists generated a pool of items based on literature, patient-reported outcome measures and clinical experience. The items were administered to 206 patients with known asthma, CRS, allergic rhinitis, or a combination thereof. The patients also completed the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ-5) and the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22). Using a mix of clinical knowledge and data-driven methods a global airways questionnaire was developed. Results: Mean ACQ score was highest in patients with all three, whereas the highest SNOT-22 score was observed in patients with CRS and asthma. After the development process, analysis of responses from 206 patients to 44 items on a new global airway’s questionnaire led to identification of 15 items that form the STARR-15 questionnaire with three underlying domains (an allergic rhinitis sub-factor, a CRS sub-factor and an asthma sub-factor). Conclusion: STARR-15 represents the first global airways questionnaire, to be used when examining patients with upper and lower airways symptoms. Future analyses are warranted to evaluate the clinical and psychometric properties of STARR-15.