Translation and linguistic validation of the Bronchiectasis Health Questionnaire (BHQ) into Danish.

INTRODUCTION: Patients with bronchiectasis suffer from breathlessness, cough and sputum production, which impairs quality of life. The Bronchiectasis Health Questionnaire (BHQ), a short and disease-specific questionnaire, has previously been developed and validated in English. The aim of this study was to translate and validate the BHQ in Danish, using established cross-cultural validation methods. METHODS: To create a Danish version of the questionnaire, this study used linguistic validation, a pilot study in 17 patients and forward-backward translation. Thereafter, 111 patients with bronchiectasis were asked to complete the BHQ (BHQ1) as well as the St George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), and one in three patients were asked to repeat the BHQ after two weeks had passed (BHQ2). RESULTS: There was a significant convergent validity between the BHQ1 and the SGRQ (ρ = -0,826, p = 0.0001), a satisfactory correlation coefficient between the BHQ1 and the BHQ2 (0.739) and a lower limit of agreement of -15.96 and 20.56 in the Bland Altmann plot. CONCLUSIONS: The BHQ is translated and validated in Danish and retains good validity properties. This questionnaire is ready for use in daily clinical practice among Danish-speaking patients. FUNDING: none. TRIAL REGISTRATION: not relevant.

[Chylothorax].

Chylothorax is a rare condition caused by obstruction or disruption of the lymphatic branches draining the lower body and gastrointestinal tract. Chylothorax is characterized by the presence of lymphatic fluid with triglycerides and chylomicrons in the pleural cavity. The diagnosis is confirmed, when the level of triglycerides is above 1.24 mmol/l (i.e. 110 mg/dl). Aetiologically, chylothorax can be divided into traumatic or non-traumatic, and this separation is of pathophysiological importance, since the treatment should be individualized aiming at the underlying cause of the condition.