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Psychometric properties of a lipodystrophy scale
Daniel Lee1, Parul Patel, Jennifer Sachs
1Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, USA. dalee@ucsd.edu
AIDS Patient Care and Stds
|January 24, 2006
Summary
This study validated a new scale for assessing HIV lipodystrophy (LD), confirming it reliably measures fat loss, fat accumulation, and retinoid changes as distinct dimensions.
Area of Science:
- Medical research
- Psychometrics
- HIV/AIDS clinical management
Background:
- Previous scales for HIV lipodystrophy (LD) were unidimensional.
- Existing scales often combined disparate symptoms like fat loss, fat accumulation, and retinoid changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the psychometric properties of a novel LD scale.
- To assess the reliability and validity of a patient and clinician self-administered LD scale.
Main Methods:
- A patient and clinician self-administered LD scale was used for 107 patients over 4 years.
- Sixteen LD measures were assessed on a 0-3 severity scale.
- Reliability and factor analysis were performed using SPSS.
Main Results:
- Patient and clinician scale reliability (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.76 and 0.73, respectively.
- Factor analysis revealed 3 dimensions for patient assessment: fat loss, fat accumulation, and retinoid changes.
- Clinician assessment identified 4 factors, with distinct clusters for fat loss, retinoid changes, and fat accumulation.
Conclusions:
- The Owen Clinic LD scale is highly reliable and clinically useful for assessing LD.
- LD assessment is a multidimensional construct, best evaluated by subscales for fat loss, fat accumulation, and retinoid changes.