DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A DISCRIMINATIVE QUALITY-OF-LIFE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR OSTEOPOROSIS (THE OPTQOL)

We report the development and validation of an osteoporosis-targeted q uality of life questionnaire to measure the impact of the disease in t he general population, From multiple focus groups with women with oste oporosis, healthy women at risk for osteoporosis, spouses and relative s of women with osteoporosis, and health care providers, we identified over 300 potential items related to the disease, A lengthy questionna ire incorporated these items and was administered to a second large st udy cohort of 222 women with clinical osteoporosis (history of fractur e, significant height loss, and/or kyphosis); 101 women with known low bone mineral density levels that would categorize them as osteoporoti c but who had not yet shown obvious physical manifestations of the dis ease; and 142 women with other conditions (such as arthritis, cancer, depression) expected to also have an impact on quality of life, Final items from among the original 300 were chosen for their demonstrated r elationship with osteoporosis as measured by clinical manifestations a nd low bone density and with quality of life measured by a standard ge neric questionnaire, the SF-36, The final questionnaire contains 26 sc ored items in three domains-physical activity, adaptations, and fears- and six nonscored questions relating to osteoporotic changes and diagn osis. This instrument is unique among osteoporosis-targeted questionna ires in that it attempts to measure the total impact of the disease on quality of life within a population at a single point in time.