title: Predictors of quality of life among patients with multiple sclerosis: an Italian cross-sectional study.
abstract: The Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis (FAMS) quality of life (QoL) instrument is a disease-specific, self-report questionnaire that was developed originally for US English-speaking patients. Here, the psychometric properties of the FAMS QoL questionnaire for Italian-speaking patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are evaluated and compared with the results from the original FAMS validation survey (n=377). Eighteen Italian centers and 344 patients with MS participated in the study. The overall reliability (as expressed by Cronbach's alpha value) of the FAMS score, and its subscale scores, was always over the threshold of 0.8. Patients with benign MS showed a better overall QoL compared with patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS; p=0.017), whereas patients with RRMS had a better QoL than patients with primary progressive MS (PPMS). No difference in QoL was found between patients with PPMS and those with secondary progressive MS. The Italian FAMS questionnaire is a valid measure to assess the QoL concerns of patients with MS. FAMS is also easy to administer and is well accepted by patients.
authors.affiliation: Policlinico Universitario, Clinica Neurologica, Catania, Italy. patti@unict.it
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Patti
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pappalardo
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Macchia
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Civalleri
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paolillo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020528:Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Progressive / Q000523:psychology*; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000523:psychology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000592:standards; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*