Peritonsillar abscess assessment tool.

Introduction: We developed and validated a patient-reported outcome measurement for measuring the severity of symptoms and efficacy of different treatment modalities in patients with peritonsillar abscess (PTA).

Methods: A 19-item questionnaire was constructed using a five-point Likert scale. Fifteen to 40-year-old patients with PTA treated at two ear-nose-throat departments completed the survey. Healthy students served as controls.

Results: A total of 51 PTA patients and 76 controls were included. Twelve items had appropriate inter-item correlations (in the 0.25-0.75 range) and high mean scores (> 3.5) among patients and were therefore included in the final tool, coined the peritonsillar abscess assessment tool (PAAT)-12. The patients' mean PAAT-12 score was 49.0 (95% confidence interval (CI): 46.8-51.1) at the time of inclusion compared with 14.2 (95% CI: 13.7-14.7) for controls (p less-than 0.001). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the questionnaire was 0.86. The standard error of measurement was 4.98, the intraclass correlation 0.88 and the Spearman correlation test-retest reliability 0.79.

Conclusion: The reliability and validity of the PAAT-12 were very high. The PAAT-12 is the first validated tool for measuring the severity and duration of symptoms from the perspective of PTA patients and for quantifying and comparing different treatment modalities in PTA patients.

Funding: Overlærer Svend Hansens Fond.

Trial registration: The study was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency (#1-16-02-356-19).