Quality of life and multiple sclerosis: validation of the French Version of the MSQOF self-questionnaire (sep-59).

We conducted a prospective study among 166 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients (103 from an university hospital, 63 from a MS rehabilitation center) to a ssess the properties of the French version of the Multiple Sclerosis Qualit y Of Life -54 it ems (MS QOL-54) which combines the MOS SF36 together with MS specific items. The SF-36 had been translated into French through the IQ OLA project. We translated and adapted the MS specific it ems with the help of three different teams. The translation into French has an addition of f ive items, because we kept the MS specific items of an earlier unpublished form. Acceptability is excellent with a response rate over 90p. 100. Test-r etest reliability is good except for the "role limitation-emotional" scale of the SF-36. Construct validity, based on factor analysis, shows no change in the SF-36 internal consistency and the specific items provided their ow n information. External validity, tested against both medical (Expanded Dis ability Status Scale, Kurtzke scale, Mini-Mental-State and disease stage) a nd rehabilitation (Functional Independence Measure) parameters is excellent . The French MS QOL questionnaire contains 59 items including both the SF-3 6 and the MS QOL-54 items. This will permit international comparisons of MS patients' care and therapy.