Rhinitis and Asthma Patient Perspective (RAPP): Clinical Utility and Predictive Value

Background: RhinAsthma Patient Perspective (RAPP) is the only validated tool for assessing of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) related to asthma and rhinitis in individual patients. Objective: To compare the HRQoL burden among countries and explore the usefulness of RAPP as a complementary measure in disease management. Methods: In this post hoc analysis of the RAPP International Study, the enrolled population was clustered into patients with controlled rhinitis and controlled asthma (CA/CR), uncontrolled rhinitis and controlled asthma (CA/UR), controlled rhinitis and uncontrolled asthma (UA/CR), and uncontrolled rhinitis and uncontrolled asthma (UA/UR). Results: We recruited 575 adult patients. Significant differences among countries were observed in the mean RAPP score (from 15.7 in Spain to 18.7 in the Philippines) although the percentage of subjects with an optimal HRQoL (RAPP <15) was not significantly different. Compared with patients with AR and asthma disease control, those with UR/CA, CR/UA, and UR/UA had significantly higher RAPP scores (4.7, 5, and 9.8, respectively). The best cutoffs for detecting uncontrolled diseases were RAPP of 15 or greater (SE = 75%; specificity = 69%; and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.78) for AR; RAPP of 16 or greater (SE = 78%; specificity = 76%; and AUC = 0.83) for asthma; and RAPP of 18 or greater (SE = 86%; specificity = 87%; and AUC = 0.92) for both AR and asthma. Conclusions: These findings provide a better understanding of the individual burden of HRQoL related to asthma and rhinitis in daily practice. In addition, the RAPP estimates how much of the risk for uncontrolled disease depends on uncontrolled AR and asthma, allowing its use as a clinical support tool in clinical management.