QUALITY-OF-LIFE AS OUTCOME IN THE TREATMENT OF OSTEOPOROSIS - THE DEVELOPMENT OF A QUESTIONNAIRE FOR QUALITY-OF-LIFE BY THE EUROPEAN FOUNDATION FOR OSTEOPOROSIS

The morbidity of osteoporosis is caused by fractures. Vertebral fractu res lead to pain and disability and a decrease in quality of life. A W orking Party of the European Foundation for Osteoporosis has developed a specific questionnaire for patients with established vertebral oste oporosis. This questionnaire is intended for use in clinical trials. T he questionnaire consists of questions and visual analogue scales in t he following domains: pain, activities of daily living, jobs around th e house, mobility, leisure and social activities, general health perce ption and mood. The questionnaire has been translated from English int o French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Swedish and Dutch. The questionnair e is currently being validated in a multicentre study involving patien ts with stable osteoporosis and control subjects. Preliminary results indicate that the reproducibility is sufficient and that the questionn aire is able to discriminate between patients with vertebral osteoporo sis and control subjects.