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Measurement of health‐related quality of life with glaucoma: validation of the Glau‐QoL © 36‐item questionnaire
Author(s) -
Béchetoille Alain,
Arnould Benoit,
Bron Alain,
Baudouin Christophe,
Renard JeanPaul,
Sellem Eric,
Brouquet Yves,
Denis Philippe,
Nordmann JeanPhilippe,
Rigeade MarieClaude,
Bassols Ana,
Benmedjahed Khadra,
Guillemin Isabelle,
Rouland JeanFrançois
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0420.2007.00999.x
Subject(s) - quality of life (healthcare) , cronbach's alpha , discriminant validity , intraclass correlation , medicine , anxiety , concordance , convergent validity , glaucoma , physical therapy , clinical psychology , psychometrics , psychiatry , internal consistency , ophthalmology , nursing
. Purpose: To validate a glaucoma‐specific health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaire: the Glau‐QoL © . Methods: Patients with ocular hypertension (OHT) or glaucoma took part in a cross‐sectional psychometric validation study ( n = 573) and a separate reproducibility study ( n = 244). Patients answered the 36‐item Glau‐QoL © , designed from in‐depth patient interviews. Results: The clinical validity of the Glau‐QoL © was excellent and clearly demonstrated that as disease severity and visual field impairment increased, HRQoL scores for the Psychological Wellbeing, Self‐image, Daily Life, Driving, Anxiety and Burden of Treatment domains were negatively affected. Increased age and lower visual acuity were also associated with lower HRQoL scores, although to a lesser extent than the previously mentioned criteria. Worsening of HRQoL domains correlated with the clinical stage of glaucoma: Anxiety and Burden of Treatment scores dropped noticeably when patients were first diagnosed and started treatment, followed by a decrease in scores for Driving, Daily Life, Psychological Wellbeing, and Self‐image as clinical conditions worsened. Psychometric validation showed acceptable convergent and discriminant validity of the Glau‐QoL © , and good reproducibility, with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and concordance correlation coefficients (CCC) ≥ 0.69. Internal consistency reliability was high (Cronbach's α coefficients > 0.70) for the Daily Life, Psychological Wellbeing, Burden of Treatment and Driving domains; acceptable (coefficients of 0.65 and 0.68, respectively) for the Self‐image and Anxiety domains; and weak (coefficient = 0.58) for the Confidence in Health Care domain. Conclusions: The Glau‐QoL © questionnaire is a valid and specific HRQoL instrument that demonstrates excellent correlations with disease progression in patients with glaucoma and/or OHT.