Cross cultural adaptation of the Greek sarcopenia quality of life (SarQoL) questionnaire

Abstract

Purpose: To translate and validate into the Greek language and setting the Sarcopenia Quality of Life (SarQoL^®) questionnaire.

Methods: A convenience sample of 176 Greek elderly people (136 females, 40 males; aged 71.19 ± 7.95 years) was recruited, 50 of which (36 females, 14 males) were diagnosed sarcopenic. Questionnaire was back-translated and culturally adapted into Greek according to international guidelines. To validate the Greek SarQoL^®, we assessed its validity (discriminative power, construct validity), reliability (internal consistency, test–retest reliability) and floor/ceiling effects. Participants were divided into sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic. Sarcopenic subjects apart from the Greek SarQoL (SarQoL^GR) filled out the Greek versions of two generic questionnaires; Short Form-36 and EuroQoL 5-dimension.

Results: The Greek SarQoL questionnaire was translated without major difficulties. SarQoL^GR mean scores were 52.12 ± 11.04 (range: 24.74–71.81) for sarcopenic subjects and 68.23 ± 14.1 (range: 24.83–94.81) for non-sarcopenic ones. Results indicated good discriminative power across sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic subjects (p = 0.01), high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.96) and excellent test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.95–0.97). Neither a floor nor a ceiling effect was observed.

Conclusions: The Greek SarQoL was found to be a reliable and valid measure of quality of life for sarcopenic patients. It is therefore, available for use in future clinical research and practice.

Implications for rehabilitation

• The Greek version of the SarQoL^® questionnaire is a valid and reliable outcome measure for assessing patients with sarcopenia.

• The Greek SarQoL is recommended to be use in clinical settings and research.

• The Greek SarQoL^® questionnaire is available online www.sarqol.org.

Keywords:

• Tanslation
• SarQoL
• sarcopenia
• reliability
• validation

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Beaudart Charlotte and Dr Bruyere Olivier for giving us the permission to adapt the SarQoL^® into Greek and for their valuable advices in the adaptation process. We also thank all translators and all patients for their kind willingness to voluntary participate in the assessment for the validation process of the SarQoL. Part of the results has been presented at the World conference on Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders in Krakow, Poland (2018) and to the 1st Joint spine symposium and 30th conference of Hellenic Scientific Society of Physical Therapy (2016).

Disclosure statement

The authors report no declarations of interest.