VAS in ILD

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Visual analogue scores in interstitial lung disease

  • IRAS ID

    188552

  • Contact name

    Charles Sharp

  • Contact email

    charles.sharp@bristol.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    North Bristol NHS Trust

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 10 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a diverse sub-specialty within respiratory medicine, in which there has been increasing interest over recent years as a result of a growing number of treatment options.

    There is much debate and controversy over choice of outcome measures in clinical studies of interstitial lung disease (ILD). Objective measures of lung function such as Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) have been used in several landmark trials in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), however their relevance to patients on a day-to-day basis is unproven. Specific quality of life questionnaires have also been developed, however these are onerous for patients to complete and take time to interpret and cannot be used easily in routine clinical practice.

    Visual analogues scores (VAS) are patient reported measures used in a variety of areas, including pain and dyspnoea, and the visual analogue score (VAS) for dyspnoea has been validated in several other areas of respiratory medicine. VAS would be a valuable patient-centred clinical tool for both research and routine clinical use in ILD. This project aims to validate VAS for dyspnoea, cough and fatigue in ILD and also to determine the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) for a change in these score.

    The Bristol Interstitial Lung Disease service reviews patients with ILD from across the South West of England. The study will aim to recruit an initial cohort of 100 patients with a clinical diagnosis of ILD, competent in English and with at least primary school education or equivalent, prior to their outpatient clinic review. A validation cohort of 30 patients will be recruited after the initial recruitment has been completed.

    The study will be conducted in the Respiratory Physiology department and will require patients completing a 5- minute questionnaire in addition to their normal routine lung function tests.

  • REC name

    East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1

  • REC reference

    15/ES/0196

  • Date of REC Opinion

    17 Nov 2015

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion