Cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish VEINES-QOL/Sym in patients with venous insufficiency

Objectives: To translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Venous Insufficiency Epidemiological and Economic Studies (VEINES) questionnaire, divided into two subscales; symptoms (VEINES-Sym) and quality of life (VEINES-QOL), in a Swedish cohort of patients with venous disease. Methods: The original questionnaire was translated into Swedish with forward–backward translation and administered to 112 patients who were consecutively recruited and had varying degrees of chronic venous disease. Mean age was 54.5 ± 15.2 years (range: 19–83) and 75% of the participants were female. All patients completed the RAND 36-item health survey and the VEINES-QOL/Sym. Results: The results showed excellent internal consistency for both VEINES-QOL (Cronbach's alpha (α) = 0.93) and VEINES-Sym (α = 0.89). Both the VEINES-QOL and VEINES-Sym correlated well to all the RAND-36 domains, demonstrating good construct validity. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed both subscales of the VEINES-QOL/Sym. Conclusions: The Swedish VEINES-QOL/Sym is a valid health-related quality of life instrument for chronic venous disease, both for research purposes and for clinical evaluation.