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Prospective validation of the short form liver disease quality of life instrument
Author(s) -
KANWAL F.,
SPIEGEL B. M. R.,
HAYS R. D.,
DURAZO F.,
HAN S. B.,
SAAB S.,
BOLUS R.,
KIM S. J.,
GRALNEK I. M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
alimentary pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.308
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1365-2036
pISSN - 0269-2813
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2008.03817.x
Subject(s) - medicine , quality of life (healthcare) , liver disease , construct validity , disease , liver transplantation , prospective cohort study , chronic liver disease , distress , sf 36 , convergent validity , physical therapy , psychometrics , internal consistency , cirrhosis , transplantation , clinical psychology , health related quality of life , nursing
Summary Background Despite the realization that health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) is an important outcome in patients with liver disease, there is scarcity of disease‐targeted HRQOL measures that have undergone prospective evaluation. Aim To validate prospectively the short form of liver disease quality of life instrument (the SF‐LDQOL) in patients with advanced liver disease. Methods The SF‐LDQOL includes 36 disease‐targeted items representing nine domains: symptoms of liver disease, effects of liver disease, memory/concentration, sleep, hopelessness, distress, loneliness, stigma of liver disease and sexual problems. We administered the SF‐LDQOL to 156 advanced liver disease patients at baseline and at 6‐month follow‐up. We estimated internal consistency reliability for multi‐item scales, item discrimination across scale and evaluated construct validity by estimating the associations of SF‐LDQOL scores with SF‐36 scores, symptom severity and disability days. To evaluate the SF‐LDQOL’s responsiveness, we compared HRQOL changes for patients who received with those who did not receive liver transplantation (LT). Results The internal consistency reliability coefficients were ≥0.70 for seven of nine scales in baseline and for all scales in follow‐up administration. The SF‐LDQOL correlated highly with SF‐36 scores, symptom severity, disability days and global health. Patients undergoing LT reported improved HRQOL compared with patients without LT and the responsiveness indices were excellent. Conclusions This study provides support for the reliability and validity of the SF‐LDQOL in patients with advanced chronic liver disease. This instrument may be useful in everyday clinical practice and in future clinical trials.