Development and psychometric properties of the Thai Graves' ophthalmopathy quality of life (GO-QOL) questionnaire.

Purpose: To develop and assess the psychometric properties of the Thai version of the Graves' Ophthalmopathy Quality of Life (GO-QOL) questionnaire.

Background: Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) is a chronic condition that causes negative self-image and impaired visual function. These conditions impact quality of life (QOL) but are rarely documented. Graves' Ophthalmopathy Quality of Life Questionnaire (GO-QOL) has good validity, reliability and responsiveness. In this study we developed a Thai GO-QOL questionnaire by translating the questionnaire from English to the Thai language and evaluated its reliability and validity.

Patients And Methods: Forward and backward translations were performed independently by four translators with extensive experience in both English and Thai. Seventy patients at the thyroid clinic responded to the Thai translated version upon their first visit and again 2-3 weeks afterwards. Validity was assessed by the content validity index (CVI) and correlation with relevant clinical parameters. Reliability was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha, the intraclass correlation coefficient, and the Bland-Altman plot.

Results: The Thai GO-QOL version showed high CVI (0.97) and a moderate negative correlation of the functional QOL score with disease severity (r = - 0.49), the clinical activity score (r = - 0.31), and exposure parameter (r = - 0.32). It showed good reliability with a high intraclass correlation coefficient (0.92) and high Cronbach' s coefficient (0.86).

Conclusion: The Thai GO-QOL has good validity and reliability. It can be used to evaluate the quality of life of Graves' ophthalmopathy patients as a consequence of their disease in thyroid treatment programs.