2Austria

The Argentinian version of the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) and the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ)

M.B. Moroldo¹, N. Ruperto², G. Espada³, R. Russo⁴, D. Liberatore¹, R. Cuttica⁵, D. Giacomone⁶, S. Garay⁶, J. De Inocencio⁷, C. De Cunto¹, for the Paediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organisation (PRINTO)

¹Hospital Italiano, Buenos Aires, Argentina; ²Laboratorio di Informatica Medica, IRCCS S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy; ³Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutierrez, ⁴Hospital Garrahan, 5Hospital de Pediatria Pedro De Elizalde, Buenos Aires; ⁶Hospital Sor María Ludovica, La Plata, Argentina; 7C.S. Estrecho de Corea, Madrid, Spain.

ABSTRACT
We report herein the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation into the Argentinian language of the parentÕs version of two health related quality of life instruments. The Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) is a disease specific health instrument that measures functional ability in daily living activities in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) is a generic health instrument designed to capture the physical and psychosocial well-being of children independently from the underlying disease. The Argentinian CHAQ was already published and therefore it was revalidated while the Argentinian CHQ was derived from the European Spanish version by changing few words which use is different in the 2 countries. A total of 124 subjects were enrolled: 61 patients with JIA (29% systemic onset, 38% polyarticular onset, 7% extended oligoarticular subtype, and 26% persistent oligoarticular subtype) and 63 healthy children. The CHAQ clinically discriminated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the systemic onset, and polyarticular having a higher degree of disability, pain, and a lower overall well-being when compared to their healthy peers. Also the CHQ clinically discriminated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the systemic onset, polyarticular onset and extended oligoarticular subtypes having a lower physical and psychosocial well-being when compared to their healthy peers. In conclusion the Argentinian version of the CHAQ-CHQ is a reliable, and valid tool for the functional, physical and psychosocial assessment of children with JIA.

Key words
Argentinian Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ), Argentinian Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), cross cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation, health related quality of life, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), healthy children.

Supported by a grant from the European Union (BMH4-983531 CA), and by IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo (Pavia, Italy).

Please address correspondence and requests for reprints to either: Carmen De Cunto, MD, Hospital Italiano, Departamento de Pediatria, Gascon 450, 1181 Buenos Aires, Argentina
E-mail: adelatorre@agea.com.ar
or PRINTO, IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, Pediatria Generale e Reumatologia, Piazzale Golgi, 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
E-mail: nruperto@smatteo.pv.it
WWW: http://www.medit.it/printo/