PMID- 16103000
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20051130
LR  - 20221115
IS  - 1353-8020 (Print)
IS  - 1353-8020 (Linking)
VI  - 11
IP  - 6
DP  - 2005 Sep
TI  - Quality of life in Essential Tremor Questionnaire (QUEST): development and 
      initial validation.
PG  - 367-73
AB  - BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Essential tremor (ET) can diminish functioning and quality 
      of life (QOL) but generic QOL measures may be relatively insensitive to ET and 
      its therapies. We sought to develop an ET-specific measure that might be more 
      sensitive, acceptable to patients, relatively brief, and easily used. 
      DESIGN/METHODS: A sample of 200 patients (average age 70 years, range 30-91; 
      average disease duration 15 years) rated the extent to which tremor impacts a 
      function or state, tremor severity in various body parts, perceived health, and 
      overall QOL. Responses to this initial questionnaire were subjected to principal 
      components analysis (PCA). Inspection of factor coordinates, Eigenvalues, 
      variance accounted for, and correlation matrices were used to select items for 
      confirmatory PCA. Final scale reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. 
      Validity was evaluated by correlations between QOL scales and self-rated tremor 
      severity. RESULTS: PCA of 65 initial items yielded 11 factors accounting for 71% 
      of variance. Six factors were discarded. Two items were eliminated for not 
      loading on a factor and 33 for perceived redundancy. Confirmatory PCA of the 
      retained 30 items yielded an almost identical factor structure (six factors, 70% 
      of variance accounted for, and similar item loadings). Because two factors had 
      very few items loading on them, these two factors were combined into one scale. 
      The final measure has five scales: Physical, Psychosocial, Communication, 
      Hobbies/Leisure, and Work/Finance. Reliability was excellent for the whole 
      instrument and four scales (> or =0.89), and good for the Work/Finance scale 
      (0.79). Severity of voice and head tremor were the best correlates of 
      Communication (0.70 and 0.35), while the Physical scale was related to right and 
      left upper extremity tremor (0.59 and 0.56). Scales correlated more highly with 
      patients' rating of their overall QOL than their health perception. CONCLUSIONS: 
      A brief, 30-item, ET-specific QOL scale with excellent reliability was developed. 
      Preliminary validity data are encouraging. The Quality of Life in Essential 
      Tremor Questionnaire (QUEST) promises to facilitate QOL measurement in ET.
FAU - Troster, Alexander I
AU  - Troster AI
AD  - Department of Neurology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel 
      Hill, NC 27599-7025, USA. trostera@neurology.unc.edu
FAU - Pahwa, Rajesh
AU  - Pahwa R
FAU - Fields, Julie A
AU  - Fields JA
FAU - Tanner, Caroline M
AU  - Tanner CM
FAU - Lyons, Kelly E
AU  - Lyons KE
LA  - eng
PT  - Clinical Trial
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - England
TA  - Parkinsonism Relat Disord
JT  - Parkinsonism & related disorders
JID - 9513583
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Aged, 80 and over
MH  - Communication
MH  - Essential Tremor/*psychology
MH  - Female
MH  - Health Status
MH  - Humans
MH  - Leisure Activities
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Principal Component Analysis
MH  - Psychomotor Performance/physiology
MH  - *Quality of Life
MH  - Reproducibility of Results
MH  - Social Behavior
MH  - Surveys and Questionnaires
MH  - Work
EDAT- 2005/08/17 09:00
MHDA- 2005/12/13 09:00
CRDT- 2005/08/17 09:00
PHST- 2005/04/07 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2005/05/27 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2005/05/30 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2005/08/17 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2005/12/13 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2005/08/17 09:00 [entrez]
AID - S1353-8020(05)00101-X [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2005.05.009 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2005 Sep;11(6):367-73. doi: 
      10.1016/j.parkreldis.2005.05.009.