| Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools. |
Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 14, No. 2, 219-230 (2008) DOI: 10.1177/1352458507080733 © 2008 SAGE Publications Validation of the Multiple Sclerosis International Quality of Life questionnaireDepartment of Public Health, Timone University Hospital, Marseille, France
Department of Public Health, Timone University Hospital, Marseille, France, pascal.auquier{at}medecine.univ-mrs.fr
Hospital Regional Universitario Carlos Haya, Málaga, Spain
Department of Neurology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany, Neurological Rehabilitation Center Quellenhof, Bad Wildbad, Würzburg, Germany
Centro SM, Villa Mazzacorati, Bologna, Italy
Division of Clinical Neurology, University Hospital, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Dokuz Eylül Üniversity, Department of Neurology, Izmir, Turkey
Department of Neurology, Russian State Medical University, Moscow, Russia
Department of Neurology, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway
Van Denburgh Chair, Division of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ, USA
Department of Neurology, Aiginition Hospital, University of Athens, Greece
St Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
SHEBA MC, Tel-HaShomer and the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel
P.O. Box 12605, Queenswood, South Africa
Department of Neurology, University of Buenos Aires, Head Neurology Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Internal Medicine Department, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
Department of Neurology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Department of Public Health, Timone University Hospital, Marseille, France
Serono International S.A., Geneva, Switzerland
Laboratory of Applied Health Economics LIRAES, University Paris 5, France
Department of Neurology, Timone University Hospital, Marseille, France This study aims to validate the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) International Quality of Life (MusiQoL) questionnaire, a multi-dimensional, self-administered questionnaire, available in 14 languages, as a disease-specific quality of life scale that can be applied internationally. A total of 1992 patients with different types and severities of MS from 15 countries were recruited. At baseline and day 21 ± 7, each patient completed the MusiQoL, a symptom checklist and the short-form (SF)-36 QoL questionnaire. Neurologists also collected socio-demographic, MS history and outcome data. The database was randomly divided into two subgroups and analysed according to different patient characteristics. For each model, psychometric properties were tested and the number of items was reduced by various statistical methods. Construct validity, internal consistency, reproducibility and external consistency were also tested. Nine dimensions, explaining 71% of the total variance, were isolated. Internal consistency and reproducibility were satisfactory for all the dimensions. External validity testing revealed that dimension scores correlated significantly with all SF-36 scores, but showed discriminant validity by gender, socio-economic and health status. Significant correlations were found between activity in daily life scores and clinical indices. These results demonstrate the validity and reliability of the MusiQoL as an international scale to evaluate QoL in patients with MS. Multiple Sclerosis 2008; 14: 219—230. http://msj.sagepub.com
Key Words: international multiple sclerosis MusiQoL quality of life questionnaire validation
|