Sarcopenia and quality of life: the validated Hungarian translation of the Sarcopenia Quality of Life (SarQoL) questionnaire

Introduction: Sarcopenia, or age-related muscle loss, is emerging as a serious public health concern. Due to the impaired physical performance associated with sarcopenia, a reduced quality of life (QoL) has been evidenced in the affected individuals. Generic instruments, such as Rand Corporation Short Form 36 (SF-36) or the European Quality of Life (EuroQoL-5D) questionnaires do not accurately assess the impact of sarcopenia on QoL. SarQoL (Sarcopenia Quality of Life) questionnaire, was the first disease-specific questionnaire addressing the quality of life in patients with sarcopenia and has been recently designed for providing a global assessment of the quality of life in community-dwelling elderly subjects aged 65 years and older. Aim: Our aim was the development of a valid Hungarian version of the original SarQoL, through the translation, cultural adaptation and content validation of the original questionnaire. Method: We followed the recommended process, the international protocol of translation in five steps: two initial translations, synthesis of the two translations, backward translation, expert committee to compare translations with the original questionnaire and pretest. The pretest process involved 20 subjects (10 clinically sarcopenic and 10 non-sarcopenic with different educational and socioeconomic backgrounds) who were asked to complete the questionnaire. Feedbacks were requested from all subjects regarding the comprehensibility of questions or difficulties in completing the test. Results: Using the recommended best practice protocol for translation, the pre-final version is comparable with the original instrument in terms of content and accuracy. Conclusion: After the content validation with clinically sarcopenic persons it should be a useful tool to assess the quality of life of people with sarcopenia among elderly Hungarian patients.