Validation of the Global Treatment Burden Question (GTBQ): A novel single-item measure for use in clinical and research settings

Background: A single-item, global measure could be valuable for identifying patients with high treatment burden within clinical practice and research. Aim: To validate a novel single-item global measure, named the 'Global Treatment Burden Question' (GTBQ). Methods: ) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) assessed construct validity and test-retest reliability. GTBQ performance was examined against global MTBQ scores to determine optimal thresholds. Results: -0.65). ICC was 0.66. GTBQ demonstrated excellent ability to discriminate between high and non-high treatment burden (area under the curve 0.838). Applying a GTBQ threshold of ≥3 yielded specificity 90%, sensitivity 53%, positive-predictive-value 82%, and negative-predictive-value 69%, indicating utility in 'ruling in' high treatment burden. Conclusion: This novel single-item measure has demonstrated good content and construct validity, moderate test-retest reliability, and strong ability to discriminate between high and non-high treatment burden.