Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov;44(6):960-6.
doi: 10.1093/ageing/afv133. Epub 2015 Oct 3.

Development of a self-administrated quality of life questionnaire for sarcopenia in elderly subjects: the SarQoL

Charlotte Beaudart  1 , Emmanuel Biver  2 , Jean-Yves Reginster  1 , René Rizzoli  2 , Yves Rolland  3 , Ivan Bautmans  4 , Jean Petermans  5 , Sophie Gillain  5 , Fanny Buckinx  1 , Julien Van Beveren  6 , Marc Jacquemain  7 , Patrick Italiano  7 , Nadia Dardenne  1 , Olivier Bruyere  1
Affiliations

Development of a self-administrated quality of life questionnaire for sarcopenia in elderly subjects: the SarQoL

Charlotte Beaudart et al. Age Ageing. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

Background: The impact of sarcopenia on quality of life is currently assessed by generic tools. However, these tools may not detect subtle effects of this specific condition on quality of life.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a sarcopenia-specific quality of life questionnaire (SarQoL, Sarcopenia Quality of Life) designed for community-dwelling elderly subjects aged 65 years and older.

Settings: Participants were recruited in an outpatient clinic in Liège, Belgium.

Subjects: Sarcopenic subjects aged 65 years or older.

Methods: The study was articulated in the following four stages: (i) Item generation-based on literature review, sarcopenic subjects' opinion, experts' opinion, focus groups; (ii) Item reduction-based on sarcopenic subjects' and experts' preferences; (iii) Questionnaire generation-developed during an expert meeting; (iv) Pretest of the questionnaire-based on sarcopenic subjects' opinion.

Results: The final version of the questionnaire consists of 55 items translated into 22 questions rated on a 4-point Likert scale. These items are organised into seven domains of dysfunction: Physical and mental health, Locomotion, Body composition, Functionality, Activities of daily living, Leisure activities and Fears. In view of the pretest, the SarQoL is easy to complete, independently, in ∼10 min.

Conclusions: The first version of the SarQoL, a specific quality of life questionnaire for sarcopenic subjects, has been developed and has been shown to be comprehensible by the target population. Investigations are now required to test the psychometric properties (internal consistency, test-retest reliability, divergent and convergent validity, discriminant validity, floor and ceiling effects) of this questionnaire.

Keywords: older people; quality of life; questionnaire; sarcopenia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Overview of study procedures.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cooper C, Dere W, Evans W et al. . Frailty and sarcopenia: definitions and outcome parameters. Osteoporos Int 2012; 23: 1839–48. - PubMed
    1. Baumgartner RN, Koehler KM, Gallagher D et al. . Epidemiology of sarcopenia among the elderly in New Mexico. Am J Epidemiol 1998; 147: 755–63. - PubMed
    1. Beaudart C, Rizzoli R, Bruyere O et al. . Sarcopenia: burden and challenges for Public Health. 2014. Arch Public Health 2014; 72: 45. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lauretani F, Russo CR, Bandinelli S et al. . Age-associated changes in skeletal muscles and their effect on mobility: an operational diagnosis of sarcopenia. J Appl Physiol 2003; 95: 1851–60. - PubMed
    1. Janssen I. Influence of sarcopenia on the development of physical disability: the Cardiovascular Health Study. J Am Geriatr Soc 2006; 54: 56–62. - PubMed

Publication types