Sarcopenia quality-of-life questionnaire (SarQoL)®: translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation in Turkish.

Background: The sarcopenia quality-of-life (SarQoL)® questionnaire is a multidimensional sarcopenia specific tool designed for community dwelling older adults.

Aims: The aim of this study was to translate, to cross-culturally adapt and validate the SarQoL® questionnaire to assess sarcopenia-related quality of life in Turkish older adults.

Methods: The validation process was performed in two sections: the first section constituted the translation with cross-cultural adaptation of SarQoL® into Turkish. Second section constituted the clinical validation study. To validate the Turkish version of the SarQoL®, we assessed its validity (discriminative power, construct validity), reliability (internal consistency, test-retest reliability) and floor/ceiling effects.

Results: One hundred community-dwelling subjects (mean age: 74.7 ± 6.1 years) were evaluated. The EWGSOP2 consensus diagnostic criteria were used to diagnose probable sarcopenia. A database including 1437 older adults, with complete evaluation of sarcopenia parameters, served to define low global muscle function. Results revealed a good discriminative power: subjects with probable sarcopenia had higher total scores compared to non-sarcopenic subjects (50 ± 16 vs. 68.9 ± 16.9, p < 0.001) a high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.88), consistent construct validity and excellent test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.97, 95% confidence interval: 0.94-0.98). There was no floor/ceiling effect.

Conclusion: The Turkish version of the SaQoL® questionnaire was found to be reliable and valid for the measurement of quality of life of sarcopenic patients and is, therefore, available for use in clinical research and practice. This validation could enable use of the SarQoL® tool in the eastern populations more confidently.