Post-acute (long) COVID-19 quality of life: validation of the German version of (PAC19QoL) instrument

Srikanth Umakanthan; Mariam Monice; Salona Mehboob; Cheryl Linda Jones; Sam Lawrence

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1163360

Post-acute (long) COVID-19 quality of life: validation of the German version of (PAC19QoL) instrument

Front Public Health. 2023 Jun 30:11:1163360. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1163360. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Srikanth Umakanthan¹, Mariam Monice², Salona Mehboob², Cheryl Linda Jones², Sam Lawrence³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Para-Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.
² Independent Researcher, Berlin, Germany.
³ COVID-19 Independent Research Study Group, Berlin, Germany.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of our study was to validate a German translation of the post-acute (long) COVID-19 quality of life (PAC-19QoL) instrument among German patients with long COVID-19 syndrome.

Patients and methods: The PAC-19QoL instrument was translated into the German language and administrated to patients with long COVID-19 syndrome. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to analyze the internal consistency of the instrument. Construction validity was evaluated by using Pearson's correlation coefficient and Spearman's rank correlation. Scores of patients and controls were compared using the Mann-Whitney U-test.

Results: A total of 45 asymptomatic and 41 symptomatic participants were included. In total, 41 patients with long COVID-19 syndrome completed the PAC-19QoL and EQ-5D-5L questionnaires. PAC-19QoL domain scores were significantly different between symptomatic and asymptomatic participants. All items achieved a Cronbach's alpha >0.7. There was a significant correlation between all domains on the test (p < 0.001), with the highest correlation between total (r = 0.994) and domain 1 (r = 0.991). Spearman's rank correlation analysis confirmed that the instrument items correlated with the objective PAC-19QoL examination findings.

Conclusion: The German version of the instrument is valid and reliable and can be a suitable tool for research and daily clinical practice among patients with long COVID-19 syndrome.

Keywords: EQ-5D-5L; PAC-19QoL; long COVID-19; questionnaire; validation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Retracted Publication

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Language
Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
Quality of Life*
Reproducibility of Results

Grants and funding

This manuscript is produced with the support of the Integrated Infrastructure Operational Program for the project New possibilities for the management of serious diseases in medical and preventive care with regard to the safety of health professionals, ITMS: 313011AUA5, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, GMCU/12/22/45A.