Abstract
BackgroundObesity is associated to increased risk of metabolic comorbidity as well as increased mortality. Notably, obesity is also associated to the impairment of the psychological status and of quality of life.Only three questionnaires are available in the Italian language evaluating the health-related quality of life in subjects with obesity.The aim of the present study was to test the validity and reliability of the Italian version of the Laval Questionnaire.MethodsThe original French version was translated into Italian and back-translated by a French native speaker. 273 subjects with obesity (Body Mass Index ≥ 30 kg/m2) were enrolled; the Italian version of the Laval Questionnaire and the O.R.Well-97 questionnaire were administered in order to assess health- related quality of life. The Laval questionnaire consists of 44 items distributed in 6 domains (symptoms, activity/mobility, personal hygiene/clothing, emotions, social interaction, sexual life). Disability and overall psychopathology levels were assessed through the TSD-OC test (SIO test for obesity correlated disabilities) and the SCL-90 (Symptom Checklist-90) questionnaire, respectively. To verify the validity of the Italian version, the analysis of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity were performed.ResultsThe observed proportion of agreement concordance of results was 50.2% with Cohen’s K = 0.336 (CI 95%: 0.267–0.404), indicating a fair agreement between the two tests.Test-retest correlation was statistically significant (ρ = 0.82; p < 0.01); validity (standardized Chronbach’s alpha) was considered reliable (α > 0.70). The analysis of construct validity showed a statistically significant association in terms of both total score (ρ = −0.66) and scores at each single domain (p < 0.01). A high correlation (p < 0.01) was observed between Laval questionnaire total and single domain scores and other related measures (Body Mass Index, TSD-OC scores, SCL-90 global severity index), revealing a high construct validity of the test.ConclusionsThe Italian version of the Laval Questionnaire is a valid and reliable measure to assess the health-related quality of life in subjects with obesity.
Highlights
Obesity is associated to increased risk of metabolic comorbidity as well as increased mortality
Test- retest correlation for the Laval questionnaire is presented in Table 2; the correlation between the test and retest total scores obtained at the first and second administration respectively was statistically significant (ρ = 0.82; p < 0.01), as well as results were significant (p < 0.01) for each single domain [Symptoms (ρ = 0.88), Activity/mobility (ρ = 0.94), Personal hygiene/clothing (ρ = 0.91), Emotions (ρ = 0.9), Social interactions (ρ = 0.87), Sexual life (ρ = 0.85)]
Construct validity of the Italian version of the Laval questionnaire was obtained by correlating the total score with the scores of each section
Summary
Obesity is associated to increased risk of metabolic comorbidity as well as increased mortality. Obesity is associated to the impairment of the psychological status and of quality of life. Three questionnaires are available in the Italian language evaluating the health-related quality of life in subjects with obesity. A wealth of studies showed that obesity is associated to increased morbidity (especially cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic, osteoarticular, and neoplastic diseases) as well as to higher all- cause mortality [2]. In Europe obesity accounts for 2– 8% of health care costs and for 10– 13% of mortality. The quality of life is significantly reduced in subjects with obesity [5,6,7]
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