To validate the German version of the COMPASS 31.

The Composite Autonomic Symptom Score 31 (COMPASS 31) is a validated, 31 item self-assessment questionnaire, developed by the Mayo Clinic autonomic group from their more time-consuming 169-item Autonomic Symptom Profile and 72-item COMPASS questionnaires. The 31 items assess autonomic symptoms in 6 domains, orthostatic intolerance, vasomotor, secretomotor, gastrointestinal, bladder, and pupillomotor functions. Up to now, there is no validated German version of the COMPASS 31.

Two experts in autonomic neurology (WS and MJH) independently translated the original questionnaire into German; then, this version was translated back into English to assure conformity of the German with the original version. 20 patients with autonomic dysfunction and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls completed the COMPASS 31 twice, 4 weeks ± 1 week apart, once in German and once in English. The order was randomized at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. The validation of the German version of COMPASS 31 was evaluated by correlating its total and sub-scores with those of the original English COMPASS 31 using Pearson’s correlation test. Significance was set as p-value <0.05.

The German version of COMPASS 31 significantly and positively correlated with the English version of COMPASS 31 in scores of orthostatic intolerance (coefficient = 0.919, p<0.001), vasomotor function (coefficient = 0.934, p<0.001), secretomotor function (coefficient = 0.741, p<0.001), gastrointestinal function (coefficient = 0.896, p<0.001), bladder function (coefficient = 0.864, p<0.001), pupillomotor function (coefficient = 0.776, p<0.001), and total scores (coefficient = 0.934, p<0.001).

Total- and sub-scores of the German Version of COMPASS 31 correlated well with those of the original English version of COMPASS 31. These data indicate that the German version of COMPASS 31 is a validated tool to assess autonomic involvement in both clinical and research applications.