AUTHOR=Chen Nan , Shi Bing , Huang Hanyao 

TITLE=Velopharyngeal Inadequacy-Related Quality of Life Assessment: The Instrument Development and Application Review

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2022.796941

DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2022.796941

ISSN=2296-875X

ABSTRACT=Objective 
For the patient-reported outcomes (PRO) measures related to velopharyngeal inadequacy (VPI) patients, different quality of life (QOL) instruments have been developed. The present systematic review was designated to identify current VPI-related QOL instruments’ development, validation, and applicability.
Methods
Pubmed, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases were searched in January 2022. “Velopharyngeal” or “palatopharyngeal” and “quality of life” or “life quality” were searched in title, abstract, and keywords. This study followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Two investigators independently reviewed abstracts and full texts of the identified literature. An established checklist was used to evaluate the measurement properties of each identified instrument. 
Results 
A total of 375 articles and 13 instruments were identified, which can be divided into 9 type of families according to their development procedures. Developmental and measurement characteristics of these instruments, as well as evidence of conceptual model, content validity, reliability, construct validity, scoring, interpretation, respondent burden and presentation for all instruments were shown.
Conclusion 
The patient's self-report assessment and parent-proxy assessment are both valuable. The conclusion couldn’t be drawn that any QOL instrument is absolutely the best for patients with velopharyngeal inadequacy. Understanding the development and characteristics of different QOL instruments, including reliability, validity, aim, target, language and resource, should be important before application in clinic or research.