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To validate the Portuguese version of the quality of life questionnaire of the European foundation for osteoporosis (QUALEFFO-41) in Brazilian women with osteoporotic vertebral fractures (VF). A questionnaire validation study of 86 postmenopausal women was conducted. Women were divided into two groups: 43 in a group with VF and 43 in a group without osteoporosis, age-matched (±3 years). The QUALEFFO-41 questionnaire was administered twice in 4 weeks and compared to a generic questionnaire SF-36. For analysis of the QUALEFFO-41, internal consistency, repeatability, and discriminant capacity between VF patients and control patients were assessed. The significance level adopted was 5 %. The mean age of the women was 66.1 ± 7.2 years for the group with VF and 64.9 ± 6.3 years for the control group (p = 0.4259). The QUALEFFO showed adequate internal consistency in all domains (Cronbach's α of 0.74 to 0.84) and good repeatability (ICC of domains = 0.67-0.90). Of the total questions, 92.6 % demonstrated satisfactory convergent validity, and 95 % of the questions showed good discriminant validity. The mean scores of both questionnaires were significantly higher in the group with VF. There was a good correlation among the QUALEFFO-41 domains and their corresponding SF-36 domains, except for social function. All QUALEFFO-41 domains were significantly predictive of VF on assessment of the ROC curve. The Portuguese version of the QUALEFFO-41 may be used in Brazilian women with osteoporotic VF because it shows good reliability, repeatability, and validity. It was also shown to impair quality of life (QOL) in women with VF and had good ability to discriminate QOL in women with osteoporotic VF.

Unlabelled: The prevalence of vertebral fracture was high in postmenopausal Brazilian osteoporotic women; quality of life was impaired regardless of vertebral fractures, despite a direct correlation between the number of vertebral fractures and a worse quality of life score., Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of vertebral fractures (VF), quality of life (QOL), association between number of VF and QOL scores, and correlate the factors associated with QOL in a sample of postmenopausal Brazilian women with osteoporosis., Methods: A cross-sectional study of 126 postmenopausal osteoporotic women aged 55-80 years was conducted. Women were interviewed about sociodemographic and clinical data, responded to QUALEFFO-41 questionnaire, and underwent vertebral radiography to measure the anterior, mean, and posterior height at each vertebra (T4 to L5). VF were classified as anterior wedge, posterior wedge, central collapse, and crush. Data was expressed as means (±SD) and frequencies, Mann-Whitney or Student's T tests were used to compare means, and odds ratio and 95 % confidence interval were used for multiple regression analysis. Values were significant when P value < 0.05., Results: The mean age was 65.7 ± 6.3 years, age at menopause was 46.5 ± 6.8 years and T score of the lumbar spine was -2.77 ± 0.58. The prevalence of VF was 34.1 % (43/126) and the most prevalent type of VF was anterior wedge (45.9 %). There was no difference in QUALEFFO-41 scores between women with and without VF, although there was a direct correlation between QOL scores and number of VF. Factors associated with worse QOL were non-white skin color, obesity, unemployment, sedentary lifestyle, low level of school education, and non-use of osteoporosis drugs., Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of VF in Brazilian postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. QOL was impaired regardless of VF, despite a direct correlation between number of VF and a worse QOL score.