Cross-cultural evaluation of the French version of the LEIPAD, a health-related quality of life instrument for use in the elderly living at home

Health-related quality of life among community-dwelling people aged 80 years and over: a cross-sectional study in France

Background

The proportion of people living to a very old age is continuously increasing. One of the possibilities explored in policies and services to meet this health and societal challenge is to encourage the very old to continue living at home. This initiative is in line with the wishes of most elderly people. However, owing to the great changes that occur during old age attention should be paid to health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aims of this study were to assess HRQoL in French community-dwelling people aged 80 years and over and to investigate the sociodemographic and health characteristics and life events associated with HRQoL.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted in France to assess the HRQoL of people aged 80 years or more living at home. All people recruited were sent a letter explaining the aim of the study and requesting their consent to take part. Those who accepted then received a series of sociodemographic and medical questionnaires, a questionnaire concerning life events of the previous 12 months and the LEIPAD questionnaire, which assesses HRQoL in elderly people.

Results

The data of 184 participants (54.9% female) with a mean age of 83.9 years (almost 40% older than 85 years), were analysed. Low scores, indicating better HRQoL, were obtained on the ‘Self-Care’ and ‘Depression and Anxiety’ scales with 50.9 and 40.8% of responders, respectively, having the minimum score of zero. The highest score was found on the ‘Sexual Functioning’ scale, with 59.1% of participants having the maximum score of 100. Elderly females declared a significantly less satisfactory HRQoL. Deteriorating health, an unsatisfactory environment, not being able to drive, perceived modest income and financial worries negatively affected HRQoL.

Conclusion

Identifying factors in our study that are potential determinants of HRQoL would be of direct benefit for individuals. Concrete public policy initiatives concerning means of transport, living environment and financial resources could then be implemented to improve the HRQoL of very old community-dwelling individuals.

Validation of the French version of the LEIPAD in community-dwelling people aged 80 years and above

Background

Few studies have addressed health-related quality of life in community-dwelling individuals aged 80 years and above and very few self-assessment quality of life questionnaires have been formally validated in these populations. This study aimed to validate a French version of the LEIPAD, a self-administered questionnaire assessing the health-related quality of life of people aged 80 years and over.

Method

A cross-sectional study of people aged 80 years and over living at home in France was conducted. All subjects recruited were sent a letter explaining the study and requesting their consent to take part. Those who accepted then received the questionnaires, including the LEIPAD, which assesses health-related quality of life in the subjects aged 65 years and above. We assessed its psychometric properties: data completeness, score distribution, floor and ceiling effects, internal consistency, item-total correlations, inter-scale correlations, reliability and convergent validity with the Medical Outcome Study Short-Form 36 (SF-36).

Results

The results obtained from 184 older people (mean age of 83.9 years, standard deviation 3.3) showed very good acceptability (missing data between 1.1% and 11.4% for LEIPAD scales) Factor analysis of the instrument confirmed the multi-dimensional structure in seven independent scales similar to the original version. Good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha ranging from 0.68 to 0.87) and strong test-retest reliability of the LEIPAD scales (intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 0.77 to 0.95) were found. Convergent validity with the SF-36 showed moderate to strong correlations, consistent with the hypotheses stated.

Conclusions

The validation of this specific questionnaire will make it possible to investigate individually the health-related quality of life of French older people living at home and will enable French-speaking investigators to contribute to national and international research projects.

[Spouses' health-related quality of life evaluation of elderly patients with depression]

OBJECTIVE

To assess and compare the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of spouses living at home with a patient aged 65 years or more suffering from a major depressive disorder and that of matched controls. Secondly, to investigate whether the HRQoL of spouses was correlated with the assessment of their partner's depression, their own depression and the self-perceived level of care burden experienced by the caregiver partner.

METHODS

Assessment of patients was based on the clinical diagnosis of a major depressive disorder as established by the criteria of the DSM-IV-TR, the geriatric depression scale GDS-15 and the LEIPAD questionnaire specific to subjects aged 65 or over living at home. Spouses were assessed by GDS-15, the Zarit scale for assessing caregiver burden and the LEIPAD questionnaire. The HRQoL of controls, who were matched for age, sex and educational level, was assessed by LEIPAD.

RESULTS

The study sample (n=38) was made up of 19 patients (mean age of 76.6 years, standard deviation 8.1) and their spouses (mean age of 75.3 years, standard deviation 8.2). The HRQoL score of the spouses was significantly poorer for the scale "Sexual functioning" (P=0.0007) than that of controls and was negatively affected by their partner's depression (P=0.02). The HRQoL scores of the spouses for "Physical function", "Depression and anxiety" and "Sexual functioning" were negatively affected by their own depression (correlation coefficients r=0.50, 0.53 and 0.54, respectively). The HRQoL scores for "Self-care", "Sexual functioning" and "Life satisfaction" were also negatively affected in spouses by the self-perceived burden of care (correlation coefficients r=0.59, 0.57 and 0.51, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The sexual quality of life of spouses of elderly patients suffering from a major depressive disorder was significantly impaired. The patients' and spouses' depression and the caregivers' burden also had a negative impact on several aspects of the HRQoL of the spouses. It seems to be important, therefore, to assess the mental state, care burden and HRQoL of spouses caring for elderly patients suffering from depression so as to offer help when required to partners in difficulty.

Qualité de vie des conjoints de patients âgés souffrant de dépression

Objectifs

Évaluer la qualité de vie liée à la santé (QVS) et la charge en soins des conjoints vivant en couple avec un patient de 65 ans et plus souffrant de dépression, en début de prise en charge, en comparaison à des témoins appariés.

Méthode

Patients de 65 ans et plus souffrant d’un épisode dépressif caractérisé suivant les critères du DSM-IV-TR et leurs conjoints étaient inclus dans l’étude. L’évaluation des patients comportait : une échelle de dépression gériatrique (GDS-15) et une échelle de QVS spécifique sujets âgés validée en français (LEIPAD) [1,2]. L’évaluation des conjoints des patients comportait : la GDS-15, une échelle d’évaluation du fardeau subjectif de l’aidant (Zarit) et l’échelle LEIPAD. Les scores à la LEIPAD des patients et de leurs conjoints étaient comparés à ceux de contrôles appariés sur l’âge et le sexe. Tous les participants avaient donné leur consentement éclairé.

Résultats

Dix-neuf patients (76,6 ± 8,1 ans ; score GDS-15 : 9,7 ± 2,9) et leurs conjoints (75,3 ± 8,2 ans ; score GDS-15 : 4,0 ± 2,8) ont été inclus. Pour les conjoints, le score total à la Zarit était de 31,9 ± 14,4. Comparés à des témoins appariés, la QVS des conjoints est dégradée pour la dimension « Fonctionnement sexuel ». Chez les conjoints, on retrouve des corrélations statistiquement significatives entre : les scores à la Zarit et les scores à la LEIPAD pour les dimensions « Prendre soin de soi », « Fonctionnement sexuel » et « Satisfaction de vie » ; les scores à la GDS-15 des patients et les scores à la LEIPAD des conjoints pour la dimension « Fonctionnement sexuel ».

Conclusion

La QVS des conjoints est dégradée pour la dimension « Fonctionnement sexuel ». Lorsque le fardeau des conjoints augmente, certaines dimensions de leur QVS se dégradent ; de même, lorsque la sévérité de la dépression des patients augmente.

[Health-related quality of life evaluation of elderly aged 65 years and over living at home]

BACKGROUND

To assess health-related quality of life in French adults aged 65 years and over, living at home, with a specific self-administered questionnaire, the LEIPAD, cross-culturally adapted in French.

METHODS

Elderly completed socio-demographic and medical questionnaires, a questionnaire about negative life events during the last 12 months and the LEIPAD.

RESULTS

Data of 195 subjects (mean age: 72.6 years, men: 56.5%) were analyzed. The response rates to the LEIPAD scales were superior to 90%. Elderly reported on the whole a good health-related quality of life. Age had a negative effect on quality on life, which deteriorates over years. Age was correlated to the scales "Physical function", "Self-care", "Cognitive functioning" and "Sexual functioning". Elderly hospitalized in the last year had worse quality of life with a significant difference for "Physical function" scale. The number of health problems was positively correlated to "Physical function" scale. Elderly declaring at least one health problem had worse quality of life for this scale. Problems in couple, materials and financial problems had also negative effects on health-related quality of life.

CONCLUSION

Our study highlights a good health-related quality of life for the majority of these adults aged 65 years and over, as well as the negative effect of age, health, couple, materials and financial problems on their quality of life.