12-item QOLIH questionnaire validated for assessing quality of life in idiopathic intracranial hypertension

This cross-sectional study aimed to develop and validate an idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH)-specific quality of life (QOL) assessment tool. The study was conducted on 146 Egyptian and 156 Turkish patients with IIH. Researchers created a 14-item questionnaire, the Quality of Life in IIH patients questionnaire (QOLIH), with items hypothesized into two domains: activities of daily living (ADL) (items Q1-7 and Q12) and psycho-cognitive function (items Q8-11, Q13, Q14). To assess convergent validity, the study also employed the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6), Short Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12), and Low Vision Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (LVQOL). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that standardized factor loadings were generally acceptable (>0.60) for items Q1-12. However, items Q13 and Q14 consistently displayed weak loadings (<0.60) and were subsequently removed. The final 12-item questionnaire demonstrated acceptable convergent validity with the other QOL measures. The internal consistency of the final questionnaire was high, with Cronbach's alpha values > 0.7. The final Arabic and Turkish versions of the QOLIH questionnaire consist of 12 items. The study concludes that both versions are valid and reliable tools for assessing QOL in IIH patients.