Measuring patient functional and aesthetic satisfaction outcomes of rhinoplasty using the RHINO scale

Abstract

Background: The Rhinoplasty Health Inventory and Nasal Outcomes scale (RHINO) is a comprehensive quality of life instrument that evaluates both functional and aesthetic outcomes after rhinoplasty. Aim: to evaluate patient reported outcomes after nasal surgery using the scale. Methods: We enrolled 78 patients. Inclusion criteria were patients older than 18 years with nasal obstruction or aesthetic deformity that underwent functional and aesthetic rhinoplasty by the senior author from May 2016 to May 2017 in Perth, Australia. The patients enrolled in the study were asked to complete the scale in five different moments: before the surgery, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year after the surgery. Instrument analysis was performed using Stata 14 by assessment of test-retest reliability, internal consistency reliability;
construct validity and comparison of the pre- and postoperative values. Results: Patient age ranged from 18 to 80 years. The average age was 33,03 years with a standard deviation of 11,75 years. The preoperative median value was 21 with an interquartile range (18-26). The 6-week RHINO results were in median 44 (40-48), the 3-months scale median result was 44 (39-47), the 6-months median result was 42
(38,5-46,5) and the 1-year result median was 46 (39-48). We found in the overall results statistically significant difference between the preoperative scale result and the first postoperative scale with a Wilcoxon test (p < 0.001). Cronbach’s ? was 0,8036. Conclusions: Overall, patients are satisfied with their outcomes. The scale proved to be a good instrument to measure this.