Development and Validation of a Quality of Life Questionnaire for Patients with Vertebral Fractures: Qualeffo-41

Vertebral fractures cause pain and may hamper activities of daily life, mobility, social activities and mental function. These aspects of quality of life may be assessed with a generic or disease-specific quality of life questionnaire. The International Osteoporosis Foundation has developed a specific questionnaire for patients with vertebral fractures. This questionnaire Qualeffo-41, contains 41 questions in the domains pain, physical function, social function, general health perception and mental function. The questionnaire has been translated into many languages. A multicenter validation study showed good repeatability, adequate internal consistency and good discrimination between patients with vertebral fractures and control subjects. Further clinical testing of Qualeffo-41 showed that the domain and total scores increased linearly with the number of prevalent vertebral fractures. Lumbar fractures had more impact on quality of life than thoracic fractures. The impact of vertebral fractures on quality of life increased with age. The results with Qualeffo-41 confirm the decreased quality of life in patients with vertebral fractures.