Final Phase in the Validation of the Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Hair-Specific Skindex-29 Questionnaire Into Spanish: Sensitivity to Change and Correlation With the 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey

Abstract

Background and objective: Work has already been done on validating the cross-cultural adaptation of the Hair-Specific Skindex-29 questionnaire (HSS-29) into Spanish. This questionnaire measures the impact of female-pattern hair loss on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of this study was to complete the validation process by testing the questionnaire's sensitivity to change and assessing its correlation with the generic 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12).

Material and method: Patients who started treatment with a nutritional supplement that blocks the activity of 5-alpha-reductase were seen in two visits: a baseline visit and a follow-up visit at 6months. At each visit, hair loss severity was assessed by both investigators and patients via the Sinclair scale, evaluation of hair condition, and administration of HSS-29 and SF-12.

Results: In total, 983 women with female-pattern hair loss participated in the study. The mean HSS-29 score decreased from 25.7±18.7 at baseline to 19.3±15.7 at follow-up and significant changes were also observed in the functioning, emotions, and symptoms domains. Changes in overall and subscale HSS-29 scores from baseline to follow-up were all significantly correlated with changes in SF-12 subscale scores. The Pearson correlation coefficients ranged from -0.1 to -0.4 and were all significant at P<.001.

Conclusions: The Spanish version of HSS-29 is sensitive to change, as it detected changes in objective measurements of HRQoL. Correlations between HSS-29 and SF-12 scores were also observed.

Keywords: Alopecia femenina androgénica; Calidad de vida relacionada con la salud; Female androgenetic alopecia; Female-pattern hair loss; Health-related quality of life; Patrón femenino de alopecia; Scale validation; Validación de escalas.