Research Status of Patient-reported Outcome Assessment Tools for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep-related respiratory disorder that can easily induce or aggravate a variety of diseases, often causing different levels of decline in the patient's quality of life. Patient-reported outcome (PRO) assessment tools provide effective means for evaluating both quality of life and clinical efficacy. There are numerous OSA-PRO assessment tools available, primarily developed in foreign countries, mainly covering domains such as symptoms, daily activities, social activities, and psychological emotions, with items ranging in number from one to 84, and Likert scale as the main type of response scale. The development and evaluation of these tools employ the classical test theory (CTT). We provide the following recommendations for future research: evaluating the psychometric properties and methodological quality of OSA-PRO assessment tools; combining CTT with modern test theory to develop, revise, and evaluate OSA-PRO assessment tools; strengthening the research on the minimal clinically important difference of OSA-PRO assessment tools; developing OSA-PRO assessment tools highlighting the clinical efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine.

Keywords

• sleep apnea, obstructive|patient-reported outcome|respiratory tract diseases|assessment tools|review