Analysis of Structural Characteristics and Psychometric Properties of the SarQoL® Questionnaire in Different Languages: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Sarcopenia is the gradual and global loss of muscle and its functions. Primary sarcopenia is associated with the typical changes of advanced aging and affects approximately 5-10% of the population. The Sarcopenia and Quality of Life (SarQoL (R)) questionnaire is composed of 55 items, 22 questions, and is organized into seven domains of quality of life. The main objective of this systematic review was to analyze the structural characteristics and psychometric properties of it, as well as to classify its measurement properties, its methodological quality, and the criteria as good measurement properties of the adaptations and validations made on the SarQoL (R) questionnaire in different languages. Methods: A systematic review was carried out in the PUBMED, Web of Science, Cinahl, LatinIndex, and SCOPUS databases. The keywords used were: "SarQoL", "assessment", "sarcopenia", "geriatric", "PROM", "quality of life", and "questionnaire", using the Boolean operator "AND". All articles published up to 15 January 2022 were considered. Methodological quality and psychometric properties were assessed based on the COSMIN guidelines and the guidelines and general recommendations of PRISMA. Documents published in languages other than English were excluded, as well as versions of the SarQoL (R) published in the form abstracts for conferences when the full text was not available. Results: A total of 133 articles were identified, 14 of which were included. The evaluated questionnaires and the structural characteristics and psychometric properties of each of them were collected. Conclusion: The different cross-cultural versions of the questionnaire showed good basic structural and psychometric characteristics for the evaluation of patients with sarcopenia.