[Validation of the Japanese-translated version Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 instrument].

The Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 instrument (MSQOL-54) is a specific quality of life (QOL) scale in English for multiple sclerosis (MS). It is composed of 54 items, and is a combination of the 36-item short form health survey (SF-36) and 18 disease-specific questions, such as fatigue, mental sexual and cognitive dysfunction. We developed the Japanese-translated version of MSQOL-54. The SF-36 has been previously validated and published in Japanese; therefore the translation work was performed mainly on the 18 MS specific items. The Japanese-translated version MSQOL-54 was examined in 62 Japanese patients with MS. The mean age of the patients was 42.8 years; mean expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score was 3.0. The ratio of respondents was almost complete for all scales except for those within the sexual scales. Internal consistency reliability estimates for the 11 multi-item scales ranged from 0.65 to 0.93 in 62 patients. Test-retest intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.61 to 0.95 in 20 patients. Compared to the previous reported mean scores of general Japanese population of SF-36, the mean scores of patients with MS had lower scores in all scales. In comparison with an original article in English, the validation of the Japanese-translated version MSQOL-54 may be acceptable. There were no correlations between the results of the Japanese-translated version MSQOL-54 and EDSS except for physical function and physical health composite score. The Japanese-translated version of MSQOL-54 may provide unique information not readily evaluated by EDSS, and may be useful as clinical outcome measures in patients with MS.