अमूर्त

Validity of a Construct for Measuring Pruritus In the Brazilian Burn Victims

Roberta Cunha Matheus Rodrigues

Statement of the Problem: Itching occurs in most burns and its evaluation is essential since it compromises the quality of life of the burn victims. The purpose of this study is to test the convergent construct validity of the Brazilian version of the 5-D Itch Scale through correlational evidence with inflammatory cytokines in Brazilian burn victims and to test the validity of known groups by comparing the total score of the scale in burn victims and healthy volunteers. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: We evaluated 100 Brazilian burn victims and 41 healthy volunteers who responded to the Brazilian version of the 5-D Itch Scale. Cytokines were measured in blood samples of the burn victims. The test for the detection of cytokines IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-31 and TNF α was performed by the CBA (Cytometric Bead Array) Flex Set method, and the quantification of these cytokines by flow cytometer FACScalibur. For the evaluation of reliability, the internal consistency was analyzed using the Cronbach coefficient alpha. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to test the correlation between the total 5-D Itch Scale score and the cytokines IL-2, IL-31, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-a. The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the total score of the scale between burn victims and healthy volunteers. Findings: The scale was proven to be reliable, with Cronbach's alpha of the 0.80. The burn victims presented the total score of the 5-D Itch Scale was significantly higher compared to healthy volunteers [8,9 (3,7); 5,4 (1,0); p-value <0,0001, Mann-Whitney test]. No significant correlations were observed between the 5-D Itch and cytokine dosage in burn victims, even when controlled for age, percentage of burned body surface and depth of injury. Conclusion & Significance: The findings has shown to the validity of known groups of the Brazilian version of the 5-D Itch Scale.