Arabic Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of Health-Related Quality of Life Measures for Chronic Otitis Media (COMQ-12)

Objective: Our study aimed to translate the chronic otitis media questionnaire-12 (COMQ-12) into the Arabic language, evaluate the internal consistency of the test and test-retest reliability, and validate the adaptation for further use in Arabic studies. Study Design: A prospective observation monocenter cohort study. Settings: This study was done at Kafrelsheikh University Hospital, Egypt. Patients: One hundred twenty five ear pathology-free patients were asked to complete the questionnaire forming group A. One hundred twenty five patients with different forms of COM completed the questionnaire 2 weeks before the planned ear surgery and the same day of the operation, forming group B. Those patients who underwent the ear surgery, completed the questionnaire again 6 months after the operation forming group C. Intervention: We did an Arabic forward and backward translation of the original COMQ-12. The patients in group B underwent ear surgery (tympanoplasty with or without mastoidectomy). After fulfilling the questionnaire in different groups, we assessed the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of COMQ-12: internal consistency, reliability, reproducibility, validity, and responsiveness. Main Outcome Measures: Cronbach's alpha was 0.973. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was 0.981, while the Intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.973. Results: A statistically significant difference was present between group A (average total score 2.38 +/- 1.543) and group B (average total score 35.86 +/- 5.98). Also, there was a statistically significant difference between group B and group C (average total score 7.46 +/- 8.294). The calculated cut-off point of the total score was more than or equal to eight. Conclusion: The cross-culturally Arabic adaptation of COMQ-12 was reliable, valid with strong internal consistency and responsiveness. It can detect the significant effect of COM on the quality of life of Arabic patients. This effect would be improved obviously after surgical management that markedly enhanced the preoperative hearing problem.