The short health scale for eosinophilic oesophagitis: validation and clinical applicability in 159 Danish patients

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Standardised instruments are needed to assess subjective health in eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE). This study aimed to validate the Short Health Scale (SHS) for adults with EoE by comparing it to the validated Eosinophilic Esophagitis Activity Index (EEsAI), Adult Eosinophilic Esophagitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (EoE-QOL-A) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). METHODS: = 50) using the Bland-Altman analysis, Spearman correlation and the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC). RESULTS: < 0.0001), confirming known-group validity. SHS-EoE items correlated as expected with EEsAI, EoE-QOL-A and HADS, confirming concurrent validity. In stable patients, test-retest reliability was good for total scores (Spearman ρ = 0.75, ICC = 0.84), with item-level ρ = 0.64-0.70 (three of four ICC > 0.6) and no significant median differences. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated that the SHS-EoE is suitable for assessing subjective health in patient with EoE, although responsiveness to change requires further evaluation. Its short completion time makes it a practical tool for routine collection of patient-reported outcomes.