Session Information
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Session Title: Rating scales
Session Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm
Location: Exhibit Hall located in Hall B, Level 2
Objective: We performed an independent testing of the Quality of Life in Essential Tremor Questionnaire (QUEST) adding further information on its clinimetric properties.
Background: Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most frequent movement disorders. Recent studies emphasized the importance of various non-motor symptoms of ET on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). QUEST was specially developed for ET population to measure the wide spectrum of HRQoL.
Methods: In this study 133 ET patients were enrolled. Besides QUEST, we assessed Patient’s Global Impression-Severity (PGI) scale on ET, Fahn-Tolosa-Marin Tremor Rating Scale, Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale and Hamilton Anxiety Scale. Following the Classical Theory of Tests we performed descriptive data analysis, factor analysis, reliability, validity and precision measurements. Subsequently, we evaluated cut-off value for detecting clinically meaningful ET-related disabilities based on receiver operating characteristics analysis.
Results: Based on the PGI scale, 31 patients (23.3%) did not report any ET-related disabilities. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.897 and all item had good item-total correlation. QUEST demonstrated high convergent validity with PGI and divergent validity with disease-duration, positive family history, need for deep brain stimulation surgery, and the presence of depression and anxiety. Presence of ET-related disabilities was identified by scores >11.25 points on QUEST-SI (sensitivity: 77.4%, specificity: 83.3%); whereas scores >20.35 points indicated severe ET-related disabilities (sensitivity: 83.3%, specificity: 59.1%).
Conclusions: Independent and cross-cultural validation of patient reported outcomes is essential to confirm or reject the findings obtained by the developers of the scale. Our results demonstrate that the fundamental clinimetric properties of the QUEST are satisfactory.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
N. Kovács, A. Makkos, M. Kovács, J. Janzsky. Independent validation of the quality of life in essential tremor questionnaire (QUEST) [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2016; 31 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/independent-validation-of-the-quality-of-life-in-essential-tremor-questionnaire-quest/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2016 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/independent-validation-of-the-quality-of-life-in-essential-tremor-questionnaire-quest/