International versions of the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS).

TLDR

Symptom scales for aging women have long been used clinically, and interest in measuring health‑related quality of life has risen, with the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) being a formally validated instrument. The paper reviews the current state of the MRS in various languages and offers assistance to parties involved in translation. Translations followed international methodological recommendations, beginning with German to English (UK & USA) and then using the English version as source for French, Spanish, Swedish, Mexican/Argentine, Brazilian, Turkish, and Indonesian versions. Nine language versions of the MRS have been translated following international standards and are widely used worldwide to assess health‑related quality of life in menopausal women.

Abstract

Symptom scales for aging women have clinically been used for years and the interest in measuring health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has increased in recent years. The Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) is a formally validated scale according to the requirements for quality of life instruments. The aim of this paper is to review the current state of the instrument particularly concerning versions of the scale in different languages.The translations were performed following international methodological recommendations for the linguistic & cultural adaptation of HRQoL instruments. The first translation was done from the German original scale into English (UK & USA). The English version was used as the source language for the translations into French, Spanish, Swedish, Mexican/Argentine, Brazilian, Turkish, and Indonesian languages (attached as additional PDF files).The MRS scale is obviously a valuable tool for assessing health related quality of life of women in the menopausal transition and is used worldwide. The currently available 9 language versions have been translated following international standards for the linguistic and cultural translation of quality of life scales. Assistance is offered to help interested parties in the translation process.