Adaptability and clinical applicability of UFS-QoL in Chinese women with uterine fibroid

Wei Xu; Wenzhi Chen; Jinyun Chen; Liang Hu; Xueyao Su; Yuxian Nie; Qiuling Shi

doi:10.1186/s12905-022-01963-z

Adaptability and clinical applicability of UFS-QoL in Chinese women with uterine fibroid

BMC Womens Health. 2022 Sep 10;22(1):372. doi: 10.1186/s12905-022-01963-z.

Authors

Wei Xu¹, Wenzhi Chen^{2

3}, Jinyun Chen^{2

4}, Liang Hu^{2

4}, Xueyao Su¹, Yuxian Nie^{2

4}, Qiuling Shi^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, No. 1 Yixueyuan Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, 400016, People's Republic of China.
² State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound in Medicine and Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
³ Chongqing Haifu Hospital, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
⁴ College of Biomedical Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
⁵ School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, No. 1 Yixueyuan Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, 400016, People's Republic of China. qshi@cqmu.edu.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound in Medicine and Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China. qshi@cqmu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Objective: To demonstrate the applicability and adaptability of uterine fibroid symptoms and quality of life (UFS-QoL) in assessing the efficacy of treatment in Chinese populations.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study involving 20 Chinese hospitals and 2,411 Chinese women with fibroids. Patients completed UFS-QoL and short form-36 (SF-36) at pre-surgery, 6-month and 12-month post-treatments. Internal consistency of the quality of life assessed by the UFS-QoL questionnaire using Cronbach's α coefficient (α). Principal axis factor analysis with orthogonal rotation was established to investigate relationships between items and subscales. Concurrent validity refers to the Spearman's correlation estimate of the correlation between UFS-QoL and SF-36. Using effect size and standardized response mean, the ability to detect change was evaluated by comparing pre- and post-6-month and post-12-month treatment scores.

Results: Exploratory factor analysis yielded six subscales (concern, activities, energy/mood, control, self-consciousness, and sexual function) with eigenvalues > 1 in UFS-QoL. A 63.61% total variance was explained by the test items. Ceiling effects of self-consciousness and sexual functioning subscales from UFS-QoL were > 15%. UFS-QoL showed a positive and moderate correlation with SF-36 to establish good concurrent validity. And showed good consistency reliability (Cronbach α > 0.7 in all subscales), ability to detect change after treatment. This excluded self-consciousness (α = 0.56), which demonstrated the lowest effect size (0.38) and standardized response means (0.38) 6- and 12-months post-treatment.

Conclusions: Symptom severity, activity, and mood subscales of the Chinese UFS-QoL were valid and reliable. However, the self-consciousness domain needs further investigation on cultural adaptation, such as cognitive debriefing for how Chinese interpret these questions.

Keywords: Clinical applicability; Health-related quality of life; UFS-QoL; Uterine fibroids.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China
Female
Humans
Leiomyoma* / diagnosis
Prospective Studies
Psychometrics
Quality of Life
Reproducibility of Results
Uterine Neoplasms* / diagnosis
Uterine Neoplasms* / therapy