Validation of the Arabic version of the SF-36, generic questionnaire of quality of life related to health among the elderly in Lebanon.

Background: Measuring health status of elderly is essential for the prediction of their health care needs. Health research usually considers objective outcome measure; however there is a need to increase self-reported measures of health.

Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the SF36 among a group of Lebanese elderly.

Methods: It was a cross-sectional observational study. A systematic sample of elderly people aged 60 years and more was selected from dispensary, private and governmental hospitals in Lebanon. Data were collected using face-to-face interview. The first part of the questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic characteristics. The second part consisted of the Arabic version of the SF-36. The third part consisted of Activity of Daily Living (ADL) scale, presence of health problems and number of medication consumed per day.

Results: A total of 250 elderly people were included. The mean age was 70.69±7.70 years. Cronbach alphas for all SF-36 scales exceeded 0.798. The intra-Class correlation coefficient varied between 0.675 (item 2) and 0.980 (items 14, 16 and 18) indicating good reliability. The quality of life (QoL) of women was poorer than men (p<0.001). It was significantly lesser when the number of health problems (p<0.001) and medications (p<0.001) increased, and the ADL score (p<0.05) decreased.

Conclusion: SF-36 is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring QoL among Lebanese elderly and could be used for monitoring the QoL of this population.