title: Development of a short form of Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale for patients after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The identification of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) patients with a decrease in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is challenging. Stroke-Specific Quality of Life (SS-QOL) Scale is one of the commonest disease-specific quality of life measures initially developed and validated for ischemic stroke patients. A disadvantage is subject burden and a short form is more practical to use in clinical and research setting.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to develop a short form (12-item) of a Chinese version of Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale for aSAH (SSQOL-a) for clinical and research applications.
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out a prospective observational assessor-blinded multi-center study in Hong Kong. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NCT01038193), and was approved by hospital ethics committees.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and eighty-six aSAH patients were recruited over a 30 month period during admission. One hundred (54%) aSAH patients completed the 12-month assessment battery and were included into the current study. The total score, physical component score, and psychosocial score of the 12-item Chinese version showed satisfactory internal consistency and explained high percentages of variance of the full Chinese version (92% to 96%). The 12-item Chinese version showed significant correlations with neurological, functional, generic quality of life, psychiatric, and cognitive outcome measures at 12 months. Chinese version calculated physical subscore had better discrimination in detecting complete recovery than the Dutch version calculated physical subscore in our Chinese population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 12-item Chinese version of SSQOL-a has a satisfactory internal consistency and criterion validity for SAH patients at 12 month assessments.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Electronic address: georgewong@surgery.cuhk.edu.hk.
authors.forename: George Kwok Chu
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Sandy Wai
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Karine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ngai
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Wai Sang
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mok
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019370:Observation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D014175:Translating
keywords: Cognition; Depression; Quality of life; Stroke; Subarachnoid hemorrhage; Validation study