Responsiveness And Sensitivity To Change Of Functional Assessment Of Chronic Illness Therapy: Health-Related Quality-Of-Life Measure For Patients With Pulmonary Tuberculosis

A new measure to assess health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) was developed. The purpose of this study was to examine the responsiveness and sensitivity to change of functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-tuberculosis (FACIT-TB) for patients with PTB. The sensitivity of FACIT-TB total score and subscales scores to change as a result of smear conversion at 2 months was evaluated in 136 PTB patients. Moreover, patients were divided into groups based on whether their performance status worsen, improve or stay the same. There was a significant difference in FACIT-TB total score between those who converted at the end of the intensive phase compared to those who did not (112.20 ± 26.88 versus 77.68 ± 26.73; t (134) = -6.06, P < 0.001). The magnitude of the differences in means (mean difference = -34.51, 95% CI = -45.77 to -23.24) was very large (eta squared = 0.22). Moreover, a statistically significant difference in FACIT-TB total score was demonstrated between groups differ in their rated performance status; F (2,133) = 22.21, P < 0.001. The effect size calculated using eta squared was large at 0.25. Our results provide evidence that FACIT-TB is a sensitive instrument to set clinical significant differences in longitudinal studies of TB treatment. FACIT-TB can be used as an evaluative HRQL measure for patients with PTB.