title: Validation of the Multiple Sclerosis International Quality of Life questionnaire.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Timone University Hospital, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Mc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simeoni
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Auquier
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Flachenecker
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stecchi
authors.forename: Cs
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Constantinescu
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Idiman
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boyko
authors.forename: Ag
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beiske
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vollmer
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Triantafyllou
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Barak
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Biermann
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cristiano
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Atweh
authors.forename: Dl
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Patrick
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Robitail
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ammoury
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beresniak
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pelletier
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000592:standards*; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*