Article

Health-related quality of life (HRQL) measurements have become an
important outcome both for population health assessment and for evaluating
treatments and care management. HRQL indicators require completion of a
well-validated questionnaire. Few specific questionnaires are available for
French multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The Multiple Sclerosis International
Quality of Life questionnaire (MusiQoL), a self-administered and multidimensional
questionnaire, was co-developed and validated in 17 countries, including France.
We report the main results of the French clinical validity of this instrument.
METHODS: The French patients were recruited between January 2004 and February
2005. The main inclusion criteria were: diagnosis of MS according to McDonald
criteria, age over 18 years, having given informed consent. The self-administered
survey materials that were completed by the patients included the MusiQoL, the
generic HRQL questionnaire SF36, and one checklist of 14 MS-specific symptoms
reported by the patients. MusiQoL comprises 31 items describing nine dimensions:
activity of daily living (eight items), psychological well-being (four), symptoms
(three), friends relationships (four), family relationships (three), satisfaction
with health care (three), sentimental and sexual life (two), coping (two), and
rejection (two). A global index score is computed. Patients were evaluated at
inclusion (T0), and retested 21+/-7 days later (T1). At T0, an experienced
neurologist collected sociodemographic data, clinical history related or
unrelated to the MS condition, treatments. At T1, change in the patient's health
status from T0 was reported. RESULTS: The analyses were performed with data from
179 subjects. The mean patient age was 44.1 years (SD: 11.5); there were 120
women and 59 men, 58.1% were unemployed, 13.6% had a tertiary educational level.
MS clinical forms were 69 relapsing-remitting, 47 secondary-progressive, 37
primary-progressive, and nine clinically isolated syndrome. The EDSS median was
4.5 (25-75(th) percentiles: 2.5-6.0). The final French version showed
satisfactory psychometric properties (external validity, internal consistency,
reliability, reproducibility, and acceptability). CONCLUSION: The availability of
a reliable and valid French version of MusiQoL, a self-administered and
multidimensional questionnaire, co-developed in different countries, enables
evaluation of QoL in French MS patients that are eligible for international
multicenter studies.
CI - Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Langue : FRANCAIS