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Cited by 173Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeHealth Education and ValidationRespiratory viral infections research

The Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey is responsive, reliable, and valid

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BARRETT, B, BROWN, R, MUNDT, M, SAFDAR, N, DYE, L, MABERRY, R, ALT, J·2005·Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
DOI 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2004.11.019PMC PMC7119015
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Abstract

Objective To assess reliability, responsiveness, importance to patients, and convergent validity for the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS-44) and to develop a short-form WURSS. Study design and setting Community-based recruitment of participants with colds. Prospective monitoring from within 48 hours of first symptom until 2 days after end of cold. The WURSS-44 includes 1 global illness severity item, 32 symptom-based items, 10 functional quality-of-life items, and 1 item assessing global change. The SF-36, SF-8, and the Jackson cold scale were used as external comparators. Results Participants included 104 women and 45 men, aged 18 to 80 years, self-reporting on 1,681 person-days of illness. Factor analysis suggested 10 dimensions, with reliability coefficients from 0.62 to 0.93. Comparing daily WURSS-44 to Jackson and SF-8 yielded Pearson correlation coefficients from 0.73 to 0.93, and from -0.60 to -0.84, respectively. Importance to patients and responsiveness assessment yielded a short version, the WURSS-21. Guyatt's responsiveness index was 0.54 for the SF-8, 0.61 for the Jackson, 0.71 for the WURSS-44, and 0.80 for the WURSS-21, suggesting that a two-armed trial would require 74 participants for the WURSS-21, 92 for the WURSS-44, 124 for the Jackson scale, and 156 for the SF-8. Conclusions The construct validity of WURSS-44 is supported by measures of reliability, responsiveness, importance to patients, and convergence. A shorter version, the WURSS-21, may be even more responsive.

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  • General improvement is a significant outcome because the literature shows that people experiencing a common cold find their generalised symptoms and functional impairment more important than specific symptoms.

    “General improvement is a significant outcome since the literature shows that people experiencing a common cold find their generalised symptoms and functional impairment more important than specific symptoms (Barret 2005).”

    From Oral antihistamine-decongestant-analgesic combinations for the common cold (2022) · cites this paper as Barret 2005

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References 46 · Cited by 173

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Authors
BARRETT, B., BROWN, R., MUNDT, M., SAFDAR, N., DYE, L., MABERRY, R., & ALT, J.
Affiliations
University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
Corresponding author
BARRETT, B
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2005-06
Volume
58
Issue
6
Pages
609-617
ISSN
0895-4356 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jclinepi.2004.11.019
PMC
PMC7119015
OpenAlex
W1967311503
Cited by
173
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 14
FWCI
11.47
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Clinical Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • National Institutes of Health (MO1‐RR03186, RR 03186, K23 AT00051)
  • National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
  • National Center for Research Resources (M01RR003186, M01 RR-03186)
  • National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (F32AT000051, K23 AT00051-01, T32AT000051, K23AT000051)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
  • Social Sciences › Education › Health Education and Validation
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Respiratory viral infections research
Keywords
upper respiratory symptoms, common cold, disease severity, functional quality of life, patient-reported outcome measures, short-form questionnaire, responsiveness, convergent validity, reliability statistics, sample size determination, SF-8
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Common Cold, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Psychometrics, Quality of Life, Severity of Illness Index, Reproducibility of Results, Treatment Outcome, Sample Size

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