Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Oct 4;13(10):e0205308.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205308. eCollection 2018.

Psychometric properties of the German version of the Leicester Cough Questionnaire in sarcoidosis

Jonas Christian Schupp  1   2 , Urs Alexander Fichtner  3 , Björn Christian Frye  1 , Katja Heyduck-Weides  3 , Surinder S Birring  4 , Wolfram Windisch  5 , Carl-Peter Criée  6 , Joachim Müller-Quernheim  1 , Erik Farin  3
Affiliations

Psychometric properties of the German version of the Leicester Cough Questionnaire in sarcoidosis

Jonas Christian Schupp et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Cough is one of the most common symptoms in general and pulmonary medicine with profound negative impact on health-related quality of life (HRQL). The Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) is a validated HRQL questionnaire, yet a validated German version of the LCQ is not available and it has never been tested in a cohort with sarcoidosis.

Objectives: To translate the LCQ into German and determine its psychometric properties.

Methods: The LCQ was translated in a forward-backward approach. Structured interviews in sarcoidosis patients were performed. Subsequently, sarcoidosis patients were asked to answer the German LCQ and comparative questionnaires. Distribution properties, item difficulty, concurrent validity, Rasch model fit and internal consistency of the German LCQ were determined.

Results: 200 patients with sarcoidosis were included. We provide evidence for reliability, unidimensionality and internal consistency. However, only a moderate correlation with general and respiratory-specific HRQL questionnaires, no Rasch model fit could be shown. Skewed responses caused by floor effects were detected.

Conclusion: We demonstrate that the German LCQ is valid and reliable and its psychometric properties fulfil the standards required for its use in clinical settings as well as in interventional trials.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Simpson CB, Amin MR. Chronic Cough: State-of-the-Art Review. Otolaryngol Neck Surg. 2006;134: 693–700. 10.1016/j.otohns.2005.11.014 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chamberlain SAF, Garrod R, Douiri A, Masefield S, Powell P, Bücher C, et al. The Impact of Chronic Cough: A Cross-Sectional European Survey. Lung. 2015;193: 401–408. 10.1007/s00408-015-9701-2 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Valeyre D, Prasse A, Nunes H, Uzunhan Y, Brillet P-Y, Müller-Quernheim J. Sarcoidosis. Lancet. 2014;383: 1155–67. 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60680-7 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cox CE, Donohue JF, Brown CD, Kataria YP, Judson MA. Health-related quality of life of persons with sarcoidosis. Chest. 2004;125: 997–1004. 10.1378/chest.125.3.997 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Drent M, Wirnsberger RM, Breteler MH, Kock LM, de Vries J, Wouters EF. Quality of life and depressive symptoms in patients suffering from sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis. 1998;15: 59–66. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms