title: Less is more, or almost as much: a 15-item quality-of-life instrument for myasthenia gravis.
abstract: We describe the process whereby a recently developed myasthenia gravis (MG)-specific quality-of-life (QOL) instrument was reduced from 60 items to 15 items while maintaining potential usefulness in the clinic and in prospective treatment trials. In data from a recently completed prospective trial of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) in MG, the MG-QOL15 correlated as highly as the 60-item MG-QOL for physical and social domains of the 36-item health survey of the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36). Correlation coefficients for the MG-QOL15 were similar to the 60-item MG-QOL for the Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis (QMG), MG-specific Manual Muscle Testing (MG-MMT), and the MG-specific Activities of Daily Living (MG-ADL) scores at week 0 and for change in scores from week 0 to week 12 in the MMF trial. Using the physician global impression at week 12 of the trial as the "gold standard," the MG-QOL15 demonstrated high sensitivity. Because the MG-QOL15 instrument can be quickly and easily administered and interpreted, it is a potential QOL measure for treatment trials and the clinical evaluation of patients with MG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, PO Box 800394, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, USA. tmb8r@virginia.edu
authors.forename: Ted M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Conaway
authors.forename: Gary R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Cutter
authors.forename: Donald B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Sanders
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D009173:Mycophenolic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D009173:Mycophenolic Acid