Objectives

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) presents with a range of poorly delineated symptoms across several domains. There is an urgent need for standardized symptom reporting in POTS, but a lack of validated symptom burden instruments. Our aim was to evaluate the psychometric properties of two symptom burden measures: the Orthostatic Grading Scale (OGS) and the Symptom Screen for Small-Fiber Polyneuropathy (SSS), in patients under investigation for suspected POTS.

Design

Psychometric validation study.

Methods

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tested the factor structure of the SSS and OGS completed by 149 patients under investigation for POTS. Scale reliability and validity were assessed. The uni-dimensionality of the SSS was assessed through principal component analysis (PCA).

Results

CFA of the OGS revealed that a 1-factor structure had adequate fit. CFA of the SSS revealed that a 5-factor structure had generally appropriate fit supporting the originally proposed 5 factors (1: Gastrointestinal, 2: Somatosensory, 3: Miscellaneous, 4: Microvascular, and 5: Urological). In addition, the SSS demonstrated sufficient uni-dimensionality in the PCA, warranting use of a single total score. Omega coefficients of both measures indicated satisfactory internal reliability (0.668–0.931). Correlations with related constructs (distress (K10 score), r = 0.317–0.404, p < 0.001) and heart rate indices (with the OGS, r = 0.211–0.294, p < 0.05) suggested sound convergent and divergent validity.

Conclusions

Initial evidence suggests that the OGS and SSS have good psychometric properties for use in populations with suspected and confirmed POTS.

中文翻译：

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体位性直立性心动过速综合征 (POTS) 患者症状测量的验证：直立性分级量表 (OGS) 和小纤维多发性神经病 (SSS) 症状筛查

 目标

姿势性直立性心动过速综合征（POTS）在多个领域表现出一系列难以描述的症状。 POTS 迫切需要标准化症状报告，但缺乏经过验证的症状负担工具。我们的目的是评估疑似 POTS 患者接受调查时两种症状负担测量的心理测量特性：体位分级量表 (OGS) 和小纤维多发性神经病症状筛查 (SSS) 。

 设计

心理测量验证研究。

 方法

验证性因素分析 (CFA) 测试了 149 名接受 POTS 调查的患者完成的 SSS 和 OGS 的因素结构。评估了量表的信度和效度。 SSS 的一维性通过主成分分析 (PCA) 进行评估。

 结果

OGS 的 CFA 显示 1 因子结构具有足够的拟合度。 SSS 的 CFA 显示，5 因素结构总体上具有适当的拟合度，支持最初提出的 5 个因素（1：胃肠道、2：体感、3：杂项、4：微血管和 5：泌尿系统）。此外，SSS 在 PCA 中表现出足够的单维性，保证使用单一总分。两项措施的 Omega 系数均表明内部可靠性令人满意（0.668–0.931）。与相关结构（痛苦（K10 分数）， r = 0.317–0.404， p < 0.001）和心率指数（OGS， r = 0.211–0.294， p < 0.05）的相关性表明良好的收敛和发散有效性。

 结论

初步证据表明，OGS 和 SSS 具有良好的心理测量特性，可用于疑似和确诊 POTS 人群。