Assessing Patient Symptoms Due to Nasal Septal Perforation: Development and Validation of the NOSE-Perf Scale

Abstract

Objective Reporting patient symptoms due to nasal septal perforation (NSP) has been hindered by the lack of a validated disease-specific symptom score. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument for assessing patient-reported symptoms related to NSP. Study Design Validation study. Setting A tertiary care center. Methods The Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) scale was used as an initial construct to which 7 nonobstruction questions were added to measure septal perforation symptoms. The proposed NOSE-Perf instrument was distributed to consecutive patients evaluated for NSP, those with nasal obstruction without NSP, and a control group without rhinologic complaints. Questionnaires were redistributed to the subgroup with NSP prior to treatment of the perforation. Results The study instrument was completed by 31 patients with NSP, 17 with only nasal obstruction, and 22 without rhinologic complaint. Internal consistency was high throughout the entire instrument (Cronbach α = 0.935; 95% CI, 0.905-0.954). Test-retest reliability was demonstrated by very strong correlation between questionnaires completed by the same patient at least 1 week apart ( r = 0.898, P < .001). Discriminant validity was confirmed via a receiver operating characteristic ( P < .001, area under the curve = 0.700). The NOSE-Perf scale was able to distinguish among all 3 study groups ( P < .001) and between NSP and nasal obstruction ( P = .024). When used alone, the NOSE scale could not discriminate between NSP and nasal obstruction ( P = .545). Conclusions The NOSE-Perf scale is a validated and reliable clinical assessment tool that can be applied to adult patients with NSP.