Development and validation of an interstitial lung disease exposure questionnaire for sub-Saharan Africa

Background American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society guidelines recommend contextspecific exposure assessments to diagnose interstitial lung disease (ILD). In sub-Saharan Africa, ILD diagnoses are rare, and locally validated ILD exposure questionnaires are not used. Methods A physician-administered ILD exposure questionnaire was developed using a four-step mixedmethods modified Delphi approach. First, ILD questionnaires from high-income countries and data from Pneumotox were reviewed, compiled and face-validated. Second, a local pilot group of ILD experts ranked item relevance using a Likert scale and suggested additions. Third, the questionnaire format and pilot rankings were addressed in a focus group discussion that was analysed using grounded theory. Finally, following focus group discussion modifications, the resulting items (with three duplicate item groups for evaluation of internal consistency) were ranked for importance by members of the Pan-African Thoracic Society (PATS). Results Face validation resulted in 82 items in four categories: Smoking and Drugs, Environmental Exposures, Occupations and Medications. Pilot group (n=10) ranking revealed 27 outliers and 30 novel suggestions. Focus group (n=12) discussion resulted in 10 item deletions, 14 additions and 22 re-wordings; themes included desire for extensive questionnaires and stigma sensitivity. Final validation involved 58 PATS members (meantso age 46 +/- 10.6 years, 76% male, from 17 countries) ranking 84 items derived from previous steps and three duplicate question groups. The questionnaire was internally consistent (Cmnbach's alpha >0.80) and ultimately included 73 items. Conclusion This mixed-methods study included experts from 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and successfully developed a 73-item ILD exposure questionnaire for sub-Saharan Africa. African pulmonary experts valued region-specific additions and ranked several items from existing ILD questionnaires as unimportant.

Automated summary

This study successfully developed a 73-item ILD exposure questionnaire for sub-Saharan Africa, which was validated and ranked by experts. African pulmonary experts valued region-specific items and considered some items from existing ILD questionnaires as unimportant.