Quality of life in patients with erection difficulties: Evaluation of a German version of the "Quality of Life Measure for Men with Erection Difficulties" (QoL-Med)

Objective: Transcultural adaptation of the disease-related "Quality of Life Measure for Men with Erection Difficulties" (the QoL-Med). Methods: The study sample consisted of 105 patients with erectile dysfuncti on (ED). Group 1 comprised n= 54 ED patients treated with Sildenafil: Group 2 included n=51 untreated ED patients. The questionnaire was translated an d tested for distribution patterns (histogram), internal consistency (Cronb ach's coefficient alpha), test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation c oefficient, ICC), correlation with erectile function, and discriminative ca pacity (standardized response mean, SRM). Results: Inspection of distribution patterns revealed a homogeneous distrib ution of the untreated patients while the treated sample showed a;ceiling e ffect. The translated questionnaire showed good psychometric characteristic s: internal consistency (Cronbach's coefficient alpha) = 0.97; test-retest reliability (ICC) = 0.82; correlation with erectile function = 0.54 (R-2 0, 30); discriminative capacity (SRM) =0.58. ED patients treated with sildenaf il showed better Quality of Life scores than untreated patients. Conclusion: The transculturally adapted version of the QoL-Med provides a r eliable and valid option for examination of disease-related quality of life in ED patients both in clinical and observational trial settings.