Elsevier

Revue Neurologique

Volume 169, Issue 1, January 2013, Pages 53-58
Revue Neurologique

Original article
Validation of the French version of the MSA health-related Quality of Life scale (MSA-QoL)Atrophie multisystématisée, syndrome parkinsonien atypique, qualité de vie, MSA-QoL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurol.2012.02.011Get rights and content

Abstract

Introduction

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) has considerable impact on health-related quality of life. The MSA health-related Quality of Life scale (MSA-QoL) is a patient-reported questionnaire, which has been recently designed to evaluate the quality of life in MSA. The objective of the present study was to validate the French version of the MSA-QoL questionnaire.

Methods

One hundred and thirty-six consecutive MSA patients were included in the study. Four patients with more than 10% missing responses were excluded from the final analysis. Data quality, scaling assumptions, acceptability, reliability and validity were assessed similar to the original validation of the English version.

Results

Missing responses were low, item and subscale scores were evenly distributed and floor and ceiling effects were negligible. Item-total correlations were higher than the recommended greater than 0.30 and internal consistency was high for all subscales. Test-retest reliability was good for all subscales. Validity was supported by moderate interscale correlations between the subscales and the predicted correlations with other scales assessing motor disability, activities of daily living, quality of life and mood.

Discussion

The French version of the MSA-QoL displays robust psychometric properties similar to the English version.

Conclusion

The French version of MSA-QoL seems suitable for assessing quality of life in French speaking MSA patients.

Résumé

Introduction

L’atrophie multisystématisée (AMS) a un impact majeur sur la qualité de vie des patients. La Multiple System Atrophy health-related Quality of Life Scale (MSA-QoL) est un auto-questionnaire qui a été récemment validé pour évaluer la qualité de vie dans l’AMS. Ce questionnaire, rempli par le patient, est composé de trois sous-échelles : motrice, non motrice et socio-émotionnelle, et d’une échelle analogique du retentissement de la maladie sur la qualité de vie des patients. L’objectif de l’étude était de valider la version française de la MSA-QoL.

Méthodes

Cent trente-six patients atteints d’AMS ont été inclus dans l’étude. Quatre patients avec plus de 10 % de réponses manquantes ont été exclus de l’analyse finale. La qualité des données (nombre de réponses manquantes), la sensibilité, la fiabilité, la fidélité (consistance interne, fidélité test-retest) et la validité de construit ont été étudiés de façon similaire à la version anglaise originale.

Résultats

Le nombre de réponses manquantes était faible, les indices de distribution de normalité étaient satisfaisants en l’absence d’effet de plancher ou de plafond. La consistance interne était supérieure à 0,80 pour les trois sous-échelles et la fidélité test-retest était de 0,66 à 0,76. La validité de construit est supportée par la forte corrélation des trois sous-échelles avec différentes échelles validées mesurant le handicap moteur, les activités de la vie quotidienne, la qualité de vie mesurée par une échelle générique et l’humeur.

Discussion

La version française de la MSA-QoL fait preuve des mêmes propriétés psychométriques que la version anglaise. Ces propriétés psychométriques sont robustes permettant ainsi la validation de la version française de la MSA-QoL.

Conclusion

La MSA-QoL semble appropriée pour évaluer la qualité de vie des patients francophones atteints d’AMS.

Introduction

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a neurodegenerative disorder presenting as a variable combination of autonomic failure, parkinsonism, cerebellar ataxia and pyramidal tract dysfunction (Gilman et al., 2008). MSA has considerable impact on health-related quality of life (Benrud-Larson et al., 2005, Schrag et al., 2006). Beyond scales assessing impairment of motor function and activities of daily living, patient-reported data are increasingly being recognized as important outcome measures for clinical trials in movement disorders (Deuschl et al., 2006). The MSA Health-Related Quality of Life scale (MSA-QoL) is a patient-reported questionnaire, that has been recently designed to evaluate the quality of life in MSA (Schrag et al., 2007b). Its development had become necessary because other tools that are used for the assessment of health-related quality of life in movement disorders such as the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39 have shown only limited validity in MSA patients (Schrag et al., 2007a). The MSA-QoL questionnaire is composed of three different subscales: motor (14 items), non-motor (12 items) and emotional/social (14 items). The response options for each question range from 0 (no problem) to 4 (extreme problem) with higher total scores reflecting more impaired quality of life. The MSA-QoL also includes a visual analogue scale (VAS) of how satisfied patients feel (range 0–100, with lower scores indicating lower quality of life). The objective of the present study was to validate the French version of the MSA-QoL questionnaire.

Section snippets

Study design

This study is part of a prospective longitudinal cohort study of MSA patients who are recruited at the French Reference Centre for MSA. The study was approved by national authorities (CNIL, No. 1338780; CCTIRS, No. 10.065). All patients gave their informed written consent before study enrolment.

Patients

One hundred and thirty-six consecutive MSA patients who were recruited at the French Reference Centre in Toulouse and Bordeaux between 2008 and 2010 were included. Patients with more than 10% missing

Patient characteristics

Patient characteristics (age, disease duration, gender, MSA subtype and degree of certitude) and scores of MSA-QoL, UMSARS, SF-36, BDI and MMSE are summarized in Table 1. MSA subscale scores are also indicated for different disease duration and UMSARS IV scores (Table 3). Univariate linear regression analysis showed a moderate relation between MSA-QoL motor subscale scores and disease duration (r = 0.26, P = 0.002), while no association was noted between disease duration and non-motor (r = 0.14, P = 

Discussion

The present study shows that the French version of the MSA-QoL questionnaire has psychometric properties similar to those described for the English version of the MSA-QoL questionnaire (Schrag et al., 2007b). The general characteristics of our cohort in terms of age, gender, disease duration and MSA type were similar compared to the cohort of the original validation in English language and previous natural history studies from EMSA and NAMSA study groups (Geser et al., 2006, May et al., 2007).

Conclusion

The French version of MSA-QoL displays robust psychometric properties similar to the English version. It seems therefore suitable for assessing quality of life in French speaking MSA patients.

Disclosure of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest concerning this article.

References (10)

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