Spanish translation, cultural adaptation and validation of the SarQoL®: a specific health-related quality of life questionnaire for sarcopenia

• Published in: BMC musculoskeletal disorders 2022-03, Vol.23 (1), p.191-191, Article 191
• Main Authors: Montero-Errasquín, Beatriz, Vaquero-Pinto, Nieves, Sánchez-Cadenas, Vicente, Geerinck, Anton, Sánchez-García, Elisabet, Mateos-Nozal, Jesús, Ribera-Casado, José Manuel, Cruz-Jentoft, Alfonso J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Care and treatment; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Cross-Sectional Studies; Health aspects; Health surveys; Human health sciences; Humans; Language; Muscle function; Orthopedics and Sports Medicine; Physical functional performance; Psychometrics; Public health, health care sciences & services; Quality of Life; Reproducibility of Results; Rheumatology; Santé publique, services médicaux & soins de santé; Sarcopenia; Sarcopenia - diagnosis; Sciences de la santé humaine; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Translations; Translations and translating
• ISSN: 1471-2474; 1471-2474
• DOI: 10.1186/s12891-022-05125-y

In 2015, a specific health-related quality of life questionnaire for sarcopenia, SarQoL®, was developed and validated in French. Since then, SarQoL® has been adapted and validated in different languages. We prepared a translation, cultural adaptation and validation of the psychometric properties of the SarQoL® into Spanish. A cross-sectional study with 86 participants. The translation and adaptation followed international guidelines with two direct translations, a synthesized version of the direct translations, two reverse translations, consensus by an expert committee of a pre-final version, pre-test by end users and final version. The discriminative power (logistic regression analyses), construct validity (Pearson and Spearman´s correlation), internal consistency (Cronbach´s alpha coefficient), test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient) and ceiling and floor effects were analyzed. The Spanish version showed good construct validity (high correlation with comparable domains of the SF-36), high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient: 0.84) and excellent test-retest reliability (ICC: 0.967, 95%, CI 0.917 - 0.989). However, it had no discriminative power between sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic participants defined with the EWGSOP and FNIH diagnostic criteria of sarcopenia. It did show discriminative power between patients with decreased vs normal muscle strength (54.9 vs. 62.6, p 0.009) and low vs. normal physical performance (57.3 vs. 70.2; p 0.005). No ceiling or floor effect was found. The Spanish version of SarQoL® has similar psychometric properties to those of the original version of the instrument. It did not discriminate between sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic patients diagnosed according to the EWGSOP or FNIH criteria, but it did with those with low muscle strength and low physical performance.