Carolyn McMillan, Clare Bradley, Salman Razvi and Jolanta Weaver (2008) Evaluation of new measures of the impact of hypothyroidism on quality of life and symptoms: the ThyDQoL and ThySRQ. Value in Health, 11 (2).
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This paper reports the psychometric properties of two new condition-specific questionnaires: 1) the 18-item ThyDQoL individualised measure of perceived impact of hypothyroidism on quality of life (QoL), and 2) the 15-item ThySRQ, in which patients rate symptom bother. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted of 110 adults with overt and subclinical hypothyroidism, 103 treated with thyroxine. Patients, the majority of whom (81%) were women, were recruited from primary care (57%) and from hospital clinics (43%). The mean age of patients was 55.1 (SD 14.3) years. Respondents rated personally applicable ThyDQoL life domains for importance and impact of hypothyroidism, and ThySRQ symptom bother. Results: Completion rates were high (>98%). All 18 ThyDQoL domains were rated as negatively impacted by hypothyroidism and important for QoL. The ThyDQoL had high internal consistency reliability [Cronbach's alpha = 0.949, (N = 97)], factor analysis indicated that applicable domains could be combined into an overall Average Weighted Impact score (AWI-18), for which the sample mean, -3.11 (2.2), indicated considerable negative impact of hypothyroidism on QoL (maximum possible range 9 to +3). There is good preliminary evidence to justify shortening the ThyDQoLto 14 domain-specific items. For the ThySRQ Cronbach's alpha was 0.808, (N = 95). Highest symptom bother ratings were for hair problems, weight gain, depression, cold and tiredness. Conclusions: Both the ThyDQoL and ThySRQ are highly acceptable to patients with hypothyroidism and have good internal consistency reliability. Their sensitivity to change now needs to be evaluated in clinical trials.
This is a Published version This version's date is: 03/2008 This item is peer reviewed
https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/61e0b695-b3de-ce2f-f5f2-8f7f67cea8f6/1/
Deposited by () on 23-Dec-2009 in Royal Holloway Research Online.Last modified on 12-May-2010
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