The Behcet's Disease Quality of Life: reliability and validity of the Korean version

The Behcet's Disease Quality of Life (BD-QoL) is a BD-specific measure developed in the UK. The aim of this study was to adapt the BD-QoL for use in Korea.

The translation was based on the guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation. A total of 201 Korean patients with BD participated in this study. To evaluate the psychometric properties, internal consistency and test-retest reliability were used. Factor analysis was performed to examine the construct validity. To provide further evidence for validity, the correlation of BD-QoL with the Clinical Activity Form for Korean Patients with BD (BDCAF-K) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scales was assessed.

The Korean version had high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha, 0.93) and test-retest reliability (r = 0.835). Factor analysis of the questionnaire revealed one interpretable factor as a general health-related quality of life factor. The Korean version significantly correlated with scores of CES-D (r = 0.749, p = 0.000), self-rating scale of well-being over the past 28 days (r = 0.446, p = 0.000), and BDCAF-K score (r = 0.502, p = 0.000).

Adaptation of the BD-QoL for use in Korea was successful. Together with the BDCAF-K, it may be a valuable tool for assessing the influence of interventions in BD patients and outcome in clinical trials.