Validation of outcomes survey for adults with chronic suppurative otitis media

Currently, there is no valid, disease-specific outcomes measure to evaluate health impact and treatment effectiveness for patients with chronic suppur ative otitis media (CSOM). The Chronic Ear Survey (CES) is a new, disease-s pecific outcomes measure for CSOM that was administered in a prospective ma nner to 91 patients with CSOM. It was then validated according to establish ed criteria for reliability, validity, and sensitivity to clinical change b y correlation with objective data and self-assessment questionnaires such a s the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA) and the generic 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Significant correlations between subscale scores of the CES and audiometric data and between subscale scores of the HHIA and SF-36 were found. The standardized response mean for the CES total score was 0.42, indicating moderate sensitivity to clinical change. Overal l, results demonstrated that the CES is a reliable and valid instrument for investigation of health status and health-related quality-of-life outcomes .