Marten J. Poley - Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

Short-Term and Long-Term Health-Related Quality of Life after ARM and CDH 55Table 4.2 Symptom Checklist for CDH PatientsItemReponse categories and scoring0 1 2 3 41. Respiratory difficulties * Never Sometimes Regularly Often Almostalways †2. Shortness of breath whenperforming heavy physicalactivities3. Shortness of breath whenperforming light physicalactivities4. Tightness of the chest duringsleep5. Having a cold or a stuffed-up orrunny nose6. Inflammation of the respiratorytract during the last yearNever Sometimes Regularly Often AlwaysNever Sometimes Regularly Often AlwaysNever Sometimes Regularly Often AlwaysNever Sometimes Regularly Often Chronically †Never Sometimes Chronically †7. Taking respiratory medications Never 2 to 3 timesper weekEvery day8. Experiencing constraints as aresult of respiratory difficultiesNever Sometimes Regularly9. Number of days per week withonly few respiratory difficultiesEverydayAlmost everyday3 or 4 days 1 or 2daysNo days10. Suffering from hiccupping (forexample, due to its intensity orduration)Never Sometimes Regularly Often Always11. Heartburn Never Sometimes Regularly Often Always12. Stomach ache Never Sometimes Regularly Often Always13. Other stomach complaints Never Sometimes Chronically †14. Suffering from chronicobstructive pulmonary disease orallergic reactions of therespiratory tractNoYes*†Translated version. The questionnaire we used was in Dutch.The numeric labels shown in the table were summed to arrive at a symptom score. Higherscores correspond to more severe symptomatology, with a maximum score of 45.Six different respiratory difficulties (i.e., 1) non-productive coughing, 2) sputum retention,3) coughing up sputum when waking up, 4) coughing involving significant sputumproduction, 5) wheezing, and 6) wheezing and tachypnea), all using these responsecategories. In the symptom score we used the average score of these six symptoms.The respondents were instructed that 'almost always' or 'chronically' meant 5 or more daysper week during the past three months.