The AHQ is a new patient-reported outcomes measure (PROM) for evaluating VH, and this study evaluates its usability, reliability, and longitudinal validity. For this reason, researchers created and psychometrically validated the AHQ as the first VH-specific, stakeholder-informed PROM. There is, nevertheless, a pressing need to evaluate the AHQ’s clinical usefulness and further establish its psychometric qualities. Therefore, patients were timed as they filled out the appropriate AHQ form before and after surgery to gauge their level of distress.
To assess test-retest reliability, some patients took the AHQ again within a week following the first administration, and the results were compared. Finally, prospective administration of the pre-and postoperative AHQ forms, the Hernia-Related Quality of Life Survey, and the Short Form-12 was performed on patients undergoing VH repair before, during, and after the procedure, over a period of time spanning more than a year. The 3 PROMs’ effect sizes were examined using an analysis of normal variance, and there was a correlation between the PROMs and QoL scores. The pre- and post-op AHQ median reaction times were 1.1 and 2.7 minutes.
Test-retest reliability values for the AHQ before and after surgery are quite high (r = 0.91, 0.89). All time points of the Hernia-Related Quality of Life Survey and the Short Form-12 MS correlate considerably with the AHQ, and the AHQ correlates significantly with 4/5 (80%) of the SF12-MS. When assessing, quantifying, and keeping tabs on PROMs in VH patients, the AHQ is a patient-informed, psychometrically-validated clinical instrument. The AHQ can measure hernia-specific changes in quality-of-life after ventral hernia repair with minimal response burden and high reliability.
