Predictors of quality of life among patients with multiple sclerosis: An Italian cross-sectional study

The Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis (FAMS) quality of life (QoL) instrument is a disease-specific, self-report questionnaire that was developed originally for US English-speaking patients. Here, the psychometric properties of the FAMS QoL questionnaire for Italian-speaking patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are evaluated and compared with the results from the original FAMS validation survey (n = 377). Eighteen Italian centers and 344 patients with MS participated in the study. The overall reliability (as expressed by Cronbach's α value) of the FAMS score, and its subscale scores, was always over the threshold of 0.8. Patients with benign MS showed a better overall QoL compared with patients with relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS; p = 0.017), whereas patients with RRMS had a better QoL than patients with primary progressive MS (PPMS). No difference in QoL was found between patients with PPMS and those with secondary progressive MS. The Italian FAMS questionnaire is a valid measure to assess the QoL concerns of patients with MS. FAMS is also easy to administer and is well accepted by patients.