Validity and reliability of the Kupperman test

Objective: To study the validity and reliability of the Kupperman test (KT), which measures climacteric symptoms. Design: Validation study. Setting: an urban primary care center (Gerona-3 primary care center) in Gerona, Spain. Patients: A randomized sample of women aged between 45 and 60 years old. Sample size for the calculation of intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC): N= 256. Measurements: KT was administered on two occasions. At the baseline visit, both KT and the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) were administered. Results: Twenty-eight patients (11%) refused to participate. Reliability: the ICC for the total KT score was 0.779, and for the diverse fields was between 0.777 (for hot flushes) and 0.531 (for arthralgias). Validity: the correlation between NHP and KT was 0.605 (P<. 0005). The KT score for menopausal (159) and non-menopausal women (69) showed no statistically significant differences (12.96 vs 10.51; P=. 055). The ICC of the KT revealed that this test was suitable for group use but not for individual use (ICC< 0.9). KT measures quality of life in women between 45 and 60 years old indirectly (through symptoms). The lack of significant differences between menopausal and non-menopausal women could be due to the low power of KT.