Adaptation and validation of the Turkish version of the Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation scale.

BACKGROUND: The Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) scale is a questionnaire used to assess the quality of life in patients with nasal obstruction. The aim of this study was to validate the Turkish translation of the NOSE questionnaire.

METHODS: The NOSE questionnaire was translated into Turkish and then back to English. Fifty patients with septal deviation leading to nasal obstruction and 50 healthy subjects without any nasal complaints and pathologies were recruited into the study. The Cronbach α was used to test internal consistency. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the NOSE scores of the 2 groups. Psychosomatic features (reliability, repeatability, validity, responding) were evaluated by concerning the criteria as test-retest procedure, self consistency, within-score and inter-score correlation and sensitivity of responding between the 2 groups.

RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference between patients and healthy subjects in terms of age, gender, and body mass index. Test-retest results among control subjects also did not demonstrate significant difference and the Cronbach α value of the NOSE scale was found to be 0.966. There was a positive correlation among every question of the NOSE scale and it was statistically significantly different from the control group. Total scores of the NOSE scale were significantly higher than the control group.

CONCLUSION: The Turkish version of the NOSE scale is a valid tool for assessing patients with septal deviation and measuring the subjective severity of nasal obstruction.