Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptoms Survey

Abbreviation / Alternate Names

WURSS; WURSS-44; WURSS-21

Description

Illness-specific quality of life instrument. Developed to measure change over time in symptoms important to cold sufferers.

Developer

Bruce Barrett

Address

Bruce Barrett MD, PhD
Department of Family Medicine
University Of Wisconsin Medical School
777 S. Mills
Madison, WI 53715 USA

E-mail

Bruce.barrett@fammed.wisc.edu

Cost & availability

Free for nonprofit and educational use.

http://www.fammed.wisc.edu/wurss/

Administration

Self administered

Time to complete

5 to 10 minutes

Number of items

44 item (WURSS-44) and 21 item (WURSS-21) versions available

Domains & categories (#)

Initial factor analysis of WURSS-44 suggests 10 domains.

Name of domains/ categories

Sore throat, nasal, sinus, ears, sweats, aches, cough, chest, tiredness, and activity & function.

Scaling of items

7-point Likert-type scale

Scoring

Summation of severity scores on items 1-43 for WURSS-44, and items 1-20 for WURSS-21.

Reliability

a. Test-retest/reproducibility: Not Applicable
b. Internal consistency: Reliability coefficients ²

Validity

Concurrent reported ^1,2

Responsiveness

Reported ²

Research use

Yes³

Clinical use

Not reported

Languages

English

References

1. Barrett B, K Locken, R Maberry, J Schwamman, R Brown, J Bobula, E Stauffacher. 2002. The Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survery (WURSS). J Fam Pract 51:265-273.
   
2. Barrett B, R Brown, M Mundt et al. 2005. The Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey is responsive, reliable, and valid. J Clin Epidemiol. 58:609-617.
   
3. Barrett B, R Brown, R Voland, R Maberry, R Turner. 2006. Relations among questionnaire and laboratory measures of rhinovirus infection. Eur Respir J 28:358-363.

Date of information

April 2007