13georgian

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

K. Pagava¹, N. Ruperto², L. Shalamberidze³, N. Mshvidobadze¹, for the Paediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organisation (PRINTO)

¹Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia; ²Laboratorio di Informatica Medica, IRCCS S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy, ³Rheumatological Centre, Tbilisi, Georgia.

ABSTRACT
We report herein the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation into the Georgian language of the parent's 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 Georgian CHAQ CHQ were fully validated with 3 forward and 3 backward translation. A total of 115 subjects were enrolled: 54 patients with JIA (44% systemic onset, 28% polyarticular onset, 7,5% extended oligoarticular subtype, and 20,5% persistent oligoarticular subtype) and 61 healthy children. The CHAQ clinically discriminated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the systemic, polyarticular and extended oligoarticular subtypes 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 Georgian version of the CHAQ-CHQ is a reliable, and valid tool for the functional, physical and psychosocial assessment of children with JIA.

Key words
Georgian Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ), Georgian 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: Kharaman Pagava, MD, Tbilisi State Medical University Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 33 Vazha-Pshavela Ave, 380071 Tbilisi, Georgia.
E-mail: kpagava@excite.com
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/