[Criterion-related validity of the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire-Chinese version].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the criterion-related validity of Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQOL)-Chinese version and to evaluate the effect of menopausal symptoms on health related quality of life. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey. Three communities were randomly chosen in Changsha, and then 340 menopausal women aged 45-55 years were randomly chosen from the documented data of the 3 community health service centers. They were required to fill out 4 questionnaires: demographic questionnaire, MENQOL-Chinese version, Kupperman Index (KI) and World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHQOL)-BREF. Correlation analysis was used to measure the criterion-related validity. RESULTS: MENQOL-Chinese version subscales (vasomotor, psycho-social, sexual and physical) and KI total score were positively correlated (r=0.800, 0.751, 0.607, 0.906 respectively); while negatively correlated with WHOQOL-BREF total score (r =-0.694, -0.851, -0.585, -0.873 respectively); MENQOL-Chinese version subscales (vasomotor, psycho-social, sexual and physical) were significantly correlated with WHOQOL-BREF subscales (physical, psychological, social relationship, environment), and the physical domain was the highest among the correlation coefficients (r=-0.915). CONCLUSION: MENQOL-Chinese version shows relatively high criterion-related validity compared with KI and WHOQOL-BREF, which can be widely used to measure the quality of life of menopause women in China.