To Örebro University

OBJECTIVE: Patient-reported-outcome-measures (PROM) are increasingly used to measure symptoms and treatment effects thereof, and a short PROM is more user friendly. The aim of this study was to test whether a Swedish 7-item version of the PROM used in the Vascular Quality Initiative Varicose Vein Registry can be used to measure quality of life in a Swedish cohort of patients with superficial venous insufficiency (SVI) equally well as the 26-item VEINES-QOL/Sym-S, and measure treatment effect.

METHODS: Consecutive patients with SVI and CEAP C-class ≥ 2 were recruited at three private clinics and one county hospital between January 2018 and October 2019. The patients were asked to answer both the VEINES-QOL/Sym-S, and the Swedish 7-item version, called VARIShort, at two assessment points: baseline (Cohort 1, 252 patients) and one week later (Cohort 2, 138 patients), and the VARIShort at baseline and eight weeks after an endovenous procedure (Cohort 3, 106 patients). The mean age was 58.3 (range 20 - 93), 61.4 (range 20-93) and 57.2 (range 20-89) years, the majority were female (59%, 55% and 64%), and most were C4 (39%, 46% and 38%) in Cohorts 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The VARIShort was evaluated with regards to its validity, test-retest reliability, internal consistency reliability, as well as sensitivity and responsiveness.

RESULTS: There was a strong correlation between the VEINES-QOL-S and the VARIShort (r_s = -.816, p < .001). The VARIShort showed both excellent internal consistency with Cronbach's α = 0.93 and a high response to clinical change as measured with Cohen's d, overall score of 1.17.

CONCLUSIONS: The Swedish 7-item PROM, the VARIShort, may be used for assessment of symptoms of SVI and outcome after treatment in Swedish SVI patients. The short PROM shows degree of SVI symptom impact on quality of life in the same manner as the 26-item VEINES-QOL/Sym-S.