Abstract
OBJECTIVE - The purpose of this study was to develop a questionnaire that measures patients' perceptions of the impact of diabetic peripheral neuropathy and foot ulcers on their quality of life and to assess the psychometric properties of this instrument in a sample of patients with varying severity and symptomatology of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - The neuropathy- and foot ulcer-specific quality of life instrument (NeuroQoL), generated from interviews with patients with (n = 47) and without (n = 15) diabetic peripheral neuropathy, was administered to 418 consecutive patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (35% with foot ulcer history) attending either U.K. (n = 290) or U.S. (n = 128) diabetes centers. Psychometric tests of NeuroQoL included factor analyses and internal consistency of scales; a series of multivariate analyses were performed to establish its criterion, construct, and incremental validity. Results were compared with those obtained using the Short Form (SF)-12 measure of health-related functioning. RESULTS - Factor analyses of NeuroQoL revealed three physical symptom measures and two psychosocial functioning measures with good reliability (α = 0.86-0.95). NeuroQoL was more strongly associated with measures of neuropathic severity than SF-12, more fully mediated the relationship of diabetic peripheral neuropathy with overall quality of life, and significantly increased explained variance in overall quality of life over SF-12. CONCLUSIONS - NeuroQoL reliably captures the key dimensions of the patients' experience of diabetic peripheral neuropathy and is a valid tool for studying the impact of neuropathy and foot ulceration on quality of life.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2549-2555 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Diabetes care |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2003 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Internal Medicine
- Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
- Advanced and Specialized Nursing