Hidradenitis Suppurativa Quality of Life (HiSQOL): creation and validation of the Polish language version

Introduction: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, inflammatory and painful cutaneous disease which often has a negative influence on patients' quality of life. Dermatology-specific instruments, such as Dermatology Life Quality Index and Skindex, are commonly used to evaluate HS patients' quality of life. However, due to the lack of specific questions, these scales may not be adequate and may not reflect the real problem. Aim: To translate and validate the Polish version of a newly created HS-specific questionnaire - Hidradenitis Suppurativa Quality of Life (HiSQOL). Material and methods: A forward and backward translation was conducted from the original English version of the questionnaire to Polish language according to international standards. The validation was performed on a group of 30 patients suffering from HS, who completed the questionnaire twice with a 4-5 days' interval. Results: The Polish version of HiSQOL questionnaire showed a very good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.96 for total score). Excellent reproducibility with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.97 was demonstrated. Conclusions: The Polish version of HiSQOL questionnaire has high internal reliability, validity and reproducibility. It can be used as a tool to assess health-related quality of life in the patients suffering from hidradenitis suppurativa.