The use of online visual analogue scales in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Catharina C. Moor, Rémy L.M. Mostard, Jan C. Grutters, Paul Bresser, Marlies Wijsenbeek
Abstract
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, deadly disease with a major impact on the lives of patients [1]. Symptom burden and quality of life (QoL) can be assessed with patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). In the past decade, PROM use was increasingly advocated to capture the impact of treatments and interventions on patients’ symptoms and wellbeing [2]. PROMs are often lengthy, on paper, and with difficult scoring systems, hampering direct use in clinical practice [2]. Thus, there is a need for easy-to-use PROMs in IPF and other interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), both for clinical trials and daily practice. The visual analogue scale is a valid and reliable tool to assess symptoms over time in IPF. Because of their simplicity, visual analogue scales have the potential to be used for systematic evaluation of disease course in trials and daily practice. <https://bit.ly/3BuxJsf>