Harmonized Italian version of the aging males' symptoms scale

Abstract

Introduction. The interest in clinical investigations in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of aging men has increased over recent years, particularly in the context of partial androgen deficiency. The aim of this paper is to inform the scientific community about a harmonized Italian Aging Males' Symptoms (AMS) scale.

Methods. There were two slightly different Italian AMS scales, which both underwent an up-to-date linguistic & cultural translation process, i.e., were both valid to be applied in clinical research. However, there are potential long-term problems associated with having two Italian language versions of the scale in the same country. Therefore, an ad hoc committee of key persons related to both versions met with the scale's developer, to create a harmonized single Italian AMS.

Results. The harmonization meeting came up with a consensus item-by-item and the new Italian reference scale was agreed upon. It was decided that this scale should be published to avoid any confusion among future users.

Conclusion. The Italian AMS scale published in this paper should be used for future clinical and other research.

Keywords:

• AMS
• aging males' symptoms
• quality of life
• questionnaires
• consensus on Italian version