Iranian version of modified polycystic ovary syndrome health-related quality of Life questionnaire: Discriminant and convergent validity

BACKGROUND A preliminary report indicated that the Iranian version of modified polycystic ovary syndrome health-related quality of life questionnaire (MPCOSQ) is a valid measure of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in PCOS patients. Accordingly, the Iranian version of MPCOSQ was subjected to further psychometric analyses among a different sample of patients with PCOS. OBJECTIVE To examine discriminant and convergent validity of the Iranian version of MPCOSQ. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a cross sectional study of 200 women with PCOS that was carried out in two private gynecology clinics in Kashan, Iran. Discriminant validity was assessed using the known groups comparison. Convergent validity was evaluated by assessing the correlation between similar content on the MPCOSQ and the SF-36. RESULTS The mean scores for the MPCOSQ showed that women rated lowest on the infertility and menstrual subscales indicating worst health in these dimensions. The results from the SF-36 questionnaire indicated that emotional and vitality domains were the areas of poorest health. Known groups comparison showed that the MPCOSQ differentiated well between sub-groups of women who differed in PCOS specific symptoms, lending support to its discriminant validity. Convergent validity was assessed and as expected a good positive correlation was found between related subscales of the two instruments. CONCLUSION The MPCOSQ has now been extensively tested in Iran and can be considered for using as an outcome measure in future outcome studies in this population. This study extracted from Ph.D. thesis. (Fatemeh Bazarganipour).