Abstracts

Rationale: To report the translation of the QOLIE-89 into a Portuguese-Brazilian version and evaluate its reliability and validity. Methods: This study involved 105 outpatients from the Epilepsy-Section of Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo-Brazil. The subjects were recruited after receipt of informing consent, between August 2005 and October 2007, and separated into two groups according to epilepsy syndrome. Fifty-four patients diagnosed with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) and fifty-one patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). Epileptologists documented demographic data, medical history, and clinical characteristics of epilepsy. A psychologist asked the subjects to complete the QOLIE-89, Beck-Depression-Inventory (BDI), Nottingham-Health-Profile-Inventory (NHP), Adverse-Events-Profile (AEP), and Neuropsychological-Evaluation (NE). Assessment of reliability was investigated by Cronbach’s α coefficient. The test-retest reliability was determined by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) between the QOLIE-89 completed by the same subject at the initial visit and two-three weeks later and, values ≥ 0.60 were considered significant. Construct validity hypotheses were assessed by the relationships between the QOLIE-89 domains and other questionnaires (NHP, BDI, AEP, NE) and other external measures (e.g. demographic and clinical variables). Pearson’s correlation coefficient analyzed the correlation these instruments with QOLIE-89 domains. The t-Student and Fisher tests were used to explore the association between demographic and clinical variables and QOLIE-89 domains. For statistical analysis p values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Internal consistency was high as determined by Cronbach’s α ranging from 0.73 in Social Support to 0.92 in Overall Quality of Life domain. The test-retest reliability was good, with ICC ranging from 0.60 in Role Limitations- Physical to 0.84 in Work/Driving/Social Function, and Memory subscales. Strong correlations were identified between QOLIE-89 and NHP scales of close content (p<0.001), indicating convergent validity. The correlations of QOLIE-89 subscales with BDI and AEP scores were high for most of the domains (p<0.001). The QOLIE-89 subscales Health Perception, Physical Function and Role Limitations-Physical reached the best correlation with NE tests (p<0.05). It had been showed a strong correlation between the educational level and QOLIE-89 scores, in 10 of the 17 domains (p<0.05). For clinical characteristics, quality of life (QOL) results indicated a statistically difference for the two epilepsy syndromes. The JME group had better QOL scores in 11 to 17 subscales of QOLIE-89 compared with TLE group (p<0.05). The lesion side did not affect QOL in TLE group. Conclusions: These results support reliability and validity of Portuguese-Brazilian translation of QOLIE-89 inventory. QOLIE-89 will benefit clinical studies in our country and the comparison of health-related quality of life in epilepsy in multinational research.