Development and validation of a patient-reported outcome measure in vitiligo: The Self Assessment Vitiligo Extent Score (SA-VES)

Publication date: March 2017
Source:Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Volume 76, Issue 3
Author(s): Nanja van Geel, Janny E. Lommerts, Marcel W. Bekkenk, Cecilia A.C. Prinsen, Viktoria Eleftheriadou, Alain Taieb, Mauro Picardo, Khaled Ezzedine, Albert Wolkerstorfer, Reinhart Speeckaert
BackgroundThe Vitiligo Extent Score (VES) has recently been introduced as a physicians' score for the clinical assessment of the extent of vitiligo, but a good patient self-assessment score is lacking.ObjectiveThe objective is to develop and validate a simplified version of the VES as a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM).MethodsAfter extensive pilot testing, patients were asked to score their vitiligo extent twice with an interval of 2 weeks using the Self Assessment Vitiligo Extent Score (SA-VES). The scores were compared with the physicians' evaluation (VES).ResultsThe SA-VES demonstrated very good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation = 0.948, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.911-0.970) that was not affected by age, skin type, or vitiligo distribution pattern. According to patients, this evaluation method was easy to use (22% very easy; 49% easy; 29% normal) and required <5 minutes in the majority of patients (73%, <5 minutes; 24%, 5-10 minutes; 2%, 10-15 minutes). Comparison of the SA-VES and the VES demonstrated excellent correlation (r = 0.986, P <.001).LimitationsFew patients had a dark skin type.ConclusionThe results demonstrate excellent reliability of the SA-VES and excellent correlation with its investigator-reported counterpart (VES). This patient-oriented evaluation method provides a useful tool for the assessment of vitiligo extent.



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