Evaluation of Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction Impact on Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Russian Translation and Validation of SF-Qualiveen

Abstract

The Short Form Qualiveen (SF-Qualiveen) is an 8-item version of the Qualiveen questionnaire used to evaluate the impact of urinary symptoms on the quality of life in patients with urological dysfunction due to neurological disorders. The questionnaire was never available in the Russian language before. The study is aimed at providing the translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of a Russian version of the SF-Qualiveen for the use in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Materials and Methods . The original English language version of the SF-Qualiveen was translated into Russian according to the cultural and linguistic adaptation algorithm. The participants (50 MS patients with neurogenic bladder and 10 relatively healthy volunteers) filled out the finalized Russian version of the SF-Qualiveen and the Neurogenic Bladder Symptom Score (NBSS) twice, 2 weeks apart. The data obtained was used to determine the internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha), external validity (the Spearman correlation), and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)) of the questionnaire. Results . The mean SF-Qualiveen total score was 2.51 ± 0.79 in patients with a neurogenic bladder and 0.1 ± 0.02 in the control group ( p < 0.001 ). Cronbach’s alpha exceeded 0.9 indicating an excellent internal consistency of the questionnaire. The retest did not reveal any significant differences between the findings. The test-retest reliability was good for all items and domains (ICC 0.81-0.89). The total score demonstrated the highest ICC (0.89). The external validity was verified by a strong correlation demonstrated between the SF-Qualiveen and NBSS scores. Conclusions . The Russian SF-Qualiveen questionnaire is a reliable, valid, and consistent tool for the assessment of a urinary disorder impact on the quality of life in patients with MS.