Validation of a Chinese version of disease specific quality of life scale (HFS-36) for hemifacial spasm in Taiwan.
OBJECTIVE
There was no Chinese questionnaire to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with hemifacial spasm (HFS). In this study, we aimed to validate a new disease-specific HRQoL scale for HFS (HFS-36) in Chinese version, and compared it to SF-36, a generic HRQoL scale.


METHODS
The HFS-36 Chinese version was modified from English version of HFS-30, including subscales of mobility, activities of daily living (ADL), emotional well-being, stigma, social support, cognition, bodily discomfort, and communication. All the items were scored on the 5-point scales, ranging from 0(never) to 4(always). Patients with HFS were asked to answer HFS-36 and SF-36 questionnaires on the same day before and 6-8 weeks after Botulinum toxin (BTX) injections, respectively. The reliability and validity of HFS-36 scale were evaluated statistically.


RESULTS
Totally, 103 patients (68 females; 35 males) were recruited in this study, with a mean age of 57.6 +/- 11.5 years and a mean duration of HFS for 7.6 +/- 5.8 years. The intra-class correlation (ICC) and Cronbach's alpha were over 0.7 in the majority of items. HFS-36 showed a good correlation to HFS severity before BTX treatment and a significant improvement of subscale scoring after BTX treatment. HFS-36 also had a significant correlation to the mental health of SF-36.


CONCLUSIONS
The Chinese version of HFS-36 demonstrated a good reliability and validity in subscales of motility, ADL, emotion well-being, stigma and bodily discomfort. The HRQoL was significantly improved after BTX treatment assessed by HFS-36 or SF-36. Compared to SF-36, HFS-36 scale was more sensitive and specific to evaluate the HRQoL in HFS.
Huang
Yen-Chu
YC
Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan. deepblue@adm.cgmh.org.tw
Fan
Jun-Yu
JY
Ro
Long-Sun
LS
Lyu
Rong-Kuo
RK
Chang
Hong-Shiu
HS
Chen
Sien-Tsong
ST
Hsu
Wen-Chuin
WC
Chen
Chiung-Mei
CM
Wu
Yih-Ru
YR
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D001905:Botulinum Toxins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D019569:Hemifacial Spasm / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan; D014177:Translations
D001905:Botulinum Toxins