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Validation of an Asbestos Exposure Questionnaire (QEAS-7) for Clinical Practice
Introduction: The seven-item QEAS-7 questionnaire (exposure to asbestos questionnaire) has been designed as a useful and simple tool to establish the probability of exposure to asbestos. The objective of the present study is to validate the QEAS-7 following the recommended methodology. Methods: The...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7764759/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33302485 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249167 |
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author | Ferrer, Jaume Granados, Galo Hernández, Santos Cruz, María-Jesús Sampol, Júlia Álvarez Simón, Daniel Ramada, José-María |
author_facet | Ferrer, Jaume Granados, Galo Hernández, Santos Cruz, María-Jesús Sampol, Júlia Álvarez Simón, Daniel Ramada, José-María |
author_sort | Ferrer, Jaume |
collection | PubMed |
description | Introduction: The seven-item QEAS-7 questionnaire (exposure to asbestos questionnaire) has been designed as a useful and simple tool to establish the probability of exposure to asbestos. The objective of the present study is to validate the QEAS-7 following the recommended methodology. Methods: The QEAS-7 was prospectively administered to 90 subjects with and without asbestos-related disease (ARD), on two consecutive occasions by two independent researchers. Logical and content validity was evaluated by a committee of experts and construct validity through hypothesis testing. Intra- and interobserver reliability was assessed by calculating Cohen’s Kappa index (κ), which was estimated as weak if below 0.40, moderate if between 0.41 and 0.60 and good/very good if above 0.60. The comparison between proportions was examined using Pearson’s Chi-square test. Results: The majority of participants (88.9%) were male. Mean age was 70.8 years (SD = 8.4) and most of the sample had completed primary education but had not progressed further (62.2%). Forty-three had ARD. The logical, content and construct validity of the QEAS-7 was considered adequate both by a committee of experts and by the users interviewed. The mean administration time was 9 min and 25 s (SD = 3 min and 49 s). The verification of the five hypotheses confirmed the construct validity and the intra- and interobserver reliability to be κ = 0.93 and κ = 0.50 respectively. The concordance in the estimation of asbestos exposure was κ = 0.65. Conclusions: The QEAS-7 is a simple, valid and reliable tool for estimating the probability of exposure to asbestos. Its application in clinical practice appears justified. What is already known about this subject? No studies have been published to date on the validation of specific questionnaires designed to determine asbestos exposure for routine use by healthcare staff in the clinical setting. What are the new findings? This questionnaire can be considered a comprehensible, viable, valid and reliable instrument for identifying exposure to asbestos. Its brevity and simplicity of administration make it ideally suited for use in daily clinical practice. How might this impact on policy or clinical practice in the foreseeable future? This questionnaire can be of help for physicians attending to patients with suspected asbestos-related diseases both in the hospital and in the primary care setting. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7764759 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-77647592020-12-27 Validation of an Asbestos Exposure Questionnaire (QEAS-7) for Clinical Practice Ferrer, Jaume Granados, Galo Hernández, Santos Cruz, María-Jesús Sampol, Júlia Álvarez Simón, Daniel Ramada, José-María Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Introduction: The seven-item QEAS-7 questionnaire (exposure to asbestos questionnaire) has been designed as a useful and simple tool to establish the probability of exposure to asbestos. The objective of the present study is to validate the QEAS-7 following the recommended methodology. Methods: The QEAS-7 was prospectively administered to 90 subjects with and without asbestos-related disease (ARD), on two consecutive occasions by two independent researchers. Logical and content validity was evaluated by a committee of experts and construct validity through hypothesis testing. Intra- and interobserver reliability was assessed by calculating Cohen’s Kappa index (κ), which was estimated as weak if below 0.40, moderate if between 0.41 and 0.60 and good/very good if above 0.60. The comparison between proportions was examined using Pearson’s Chi-square test. Results: The majority of participants (88.9%) were male. Mean age was 70.8 years (SD = 8.4) and most of the sample had completed primary education but had not progressed further (62.2%). Forty-three had ARD. The logical, content and construct validity of the QEAS-7 was considered adequate both by a committee of experts and by the users interviewed. The mean administration time was 9 min and 25 s (SD = 3 min and 49 s). The verification of the five hypotheses confirmed the construct validity and the intra- and interobserver reliability to be κ = 0.93 and κ = 0.50 respectively. The concordance in the estimation of asbestos exposure was κ = 0.65. Conclusions: The QEAS-7 is a simple, valid and reliable tool for estimating the probability of exposure to asbestos. Its application in clinical practice appears justified. What is already known about this subject? No studies have been published to date on the validation of specific questionnaires designed to determine asbestos exposure for routine use by healthcare staff in the clinical setting. What are the new findings? This questionnaire can be considered a comprehensible, viable, valid and reliable instrument for identifying exposure to asbestos. Its brevity and simplicity of administration make it ideally suited for use in daily clinical practice. How might this impact on policy or clinical practice in the foreseeable future? This questionnaire can be of help for physicians attending to patients with suspected asbestos-related diseases both in the hospital and in the primary care setting. MDPI 2020-12-08 2020-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7764759/ /pubmed/33302485 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249167 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Ferrer, Jaume Granados, Galo Hernández, Santos Cruz, María-Jesús Sampol, Júlia Álvarez Simón, Daniel Ramada, José-María Validation of an Asbestos Exposure Questionnaire (QEAS-7) for Clinical Practice |
title | Validation of an Asbestos Exposure Questionnaire (QEAS-7) for Clinical Practice |
title_full | Validation of an Asbestos Exposure Questionnaire (QEAS-7) for Clinical Practice |
title_fullStr | Validation of an Asbestos Exposure Questionnaire (QEAS-7) for Clinical Practice |
title_full_unstemmed | Validation of an Asbestos Exposure Questionnaire (QEAS-7) for Clinical Practice |
title_short | Validation of an Asbestos Exposure Questionnaire (QEAS-7) for Clinical Practice |
title_sort | validation of an asbestos exposure questionnaire (qeas-7) for clinical practice |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7764759/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33302485 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249167 |
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