Validation of the Turkish Version of the Sarcoidosis Health Questionnaire: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE AND AIM: sarcoidosis, a multisystemic granulomatous disease, generally results in a lower quality of life (qol) because of its unexpected course and diverse clinical symptoms. The Sarcoidosis Health Questionnaire (SHQ) evaluates the QoL for people with sarcoidosis in terms of their health. This study set out to validate the SHQ in a group of Turkish sarcoidosis patients. METHODS: The study included a total of 146 adult sarcoidosis patients (63 male and 83 female; mean age, 44±3.6 years; range, 27-63 years) between August 2020 and September 2021. The processes of the testing procedure for cultural adaptation and translation included preparation, forward translation, translation reconciliation, back-translation and back-translation review, harmonization, finalization, and proofreading. The participants filled out three questionnaires, including the SHQ, 36-Item Short Form (SF-36) Health Survey, and King’s Sarcoidosis Questionnaire (KSQ), and underwent pulmonary function tests (PFTs). RESULTS: Of the patients, 95% had lung involvement, with a mean number of 1.3 organs involved. Each SHQ component displayed a moderate to high internal consistency, ranging from 0.806 to 0.844. The whole scale’s Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.781. The SHQ total score significantly correlated with physical component summary (p< 0.001, r=0.360) and mental component summary (p<0.001, r=0.352) scores of SF-36, and the general health status (p< 0.001, r=0.478), medication component (p<0.001, r=0.456), and eye component scores of KSQ (p<0.001, r=0.545). The grouping of patients by organ involvement (p=0.01), oral steroid medication (p<0.001), and symptom type (p=0.021) revealed significant differences in the overall SHQ scores. CONCLUSION: The Turkish version of SHQ can be a valid and accurate measureto evaluate the health status of sarcoidosis patients in Turkey. When combined with normal physiological, radiological, and serological examinations, SHQ can assess the QoL of sarcoidosis patients and give useful new information.