• I Baumann, B Kurpiers, P K Plinkert, and M Praetorius.
• Universitäts-HNO-Klinik, Im Neuenheimer Feld 400, 69120, Heidelberg, Deutschland. ingo.baumann@med.uni-heidelberg.de
• HNO. 2009 Sep 1; 57 (9): 889-95.

BackgroundClinical experience has shown that chronic otitis media (COM) affects health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) of the patients. Nevertheless, up to now no validated measurement instrument encompassing all the relevant dimensions of HR-QOL is available.Material And MethodsIn phase 1 the development of the Chonic Otitis Media Outcome Test (COMOT) was conducted. A group of experts identified 31 HR-QOL concepts as being relative for COM which was reduced to 15 items (COMOT-15) by sequential statistical analysis on the basis of data from 50 consecutive COM patients. In addition to the overall score (GS), three sub-scores (ear symptoms, OS; hearing function, HF; and mental being, PB) were introduced. In phase 2 validation was performed by calculating reliability, validity, and responsiveness with the data of 121 prospectively evaluated patients.ResultsCOMOT-15 showed an excellent reliability with high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha from 0.89 to 0.91) and high retest reliability coefficients (all r>0.8). Content validity was determined by a study of the literature. COMOT-15 can distinguish COM patients from healthy subjects. Global assessment of impairment of HR-QOL by COM correlated very well with the scores of COMOT-15. However, the responsiveness of the COMOT-15 questionnaire was low.ConclusionsCOMOT-15 is a reliable, valid and sensitive instrument for measurement of HR-QOL of COM patients. The results obtained with the questionnaire can be interpreted very well by the investigator. COMOT-15 should be used in otological outcomes research.

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