Psychometric properties of the Croatian version of the King’s Health Questionnaire in multiple sclerosis patients

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic progressive disease of the central nervous system that results in a wide range of clinical manifestations. Further, 90% of MS patients report some type of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), including sexual disorders, which impact their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Croatian version of the King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ) in MS patients. Methods: Our research problem was examined using the KHQ, which includes eight domains: general health perception (GHP), lower urinary tract symptoms impact (LUTSI), role limitations (RL), physical limitations (PL), social limitations (SL), personal relationships (PR), emotional problems (EP) and sleep/energy disturbances (SED). The data was descriptively analyzed, and internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha. Pearson correlations were performed on the eight domains of the KHQ. The level of significance was set to p<0.05. Results: Eighty-two MS patients were assessed (mean age 44±11 years, 67% females). The more common LUTS in MS patients were related to the following domains: GHP (54.27±23.51), LUTSI (44.31±36.31), PR (40.45±31.43) and PL (39.43±37.36). The less common LUTS were related to the following domains: RL (37.40±36.44), SL (35.23±33.12), SED (27.85±26.46) and EP (27.51±32.81). Cronbach’s alpha for the KHQ total score was 0.97 (range for domains: 0.78-0.97), indicating high internal consistency. All of the KHQ domains were highly correlated (Pearson correlation range: 0.32-0.89). Conclusion: The Croatian version of KHQ can be a valid and reliable instrument for the helpful measure for LUTS in Croatian-speaking MS patients.