COMPARISON OF THE WOMAC (WESTERN ONTARIO AND MCMASTER UNIVERSITIES) OSTEOARTHRITIS INDEX AND A SELF-REPORT FORMAT OF THE SELF-ADMINISTERED LEQUESNE-ALGOFUNCTIONAL INDEX IN PATIENTS WITH KNEE AND HIP OSTEOARTHRITIS
G. Stucki et al., COMPARISON OF THE WOMAC (WESTERN ONTARIO AND MCMASTER UNIVERSITIES) OSTEOARTHRITIS INDEX AND A SELF-REPORT FORMAT OF THE SELF-ADMINISTERED LEQUESNE-ALGOFUNCTIONAL INDEX IN PATIENTS WITH KNEE AND HIP OSTEOARTHRITIS, Osteoarthritis and cartilage, 6(2), 1998, pp. 79-86
Objective: To compare the metric properties and validity of German ver
sions of the WOMAC (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities) and a s
elf-administered questionnaire-format of the Lequesne-Algofunctional-I
ndex in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the lower extremities. De
sign: Cross-sectional analysis of the instruments' internal consistenc
y (Cronbach's coefficient alpha) and construct validity (correlation w
ith radiological OA-severity and limitation in range-of-motion) in amb
ulatory patients and patients before hip arthroplasty. Test-retest rel
iability was assessed on a subsample after 10 days. Results: Data from
51 patients out of 91 contacted could be analyzed. Twenty-nine patien
ts had knee and 22 patients had hip OA. Both the WOMAC and Lequesne OA
-indices and their scales or sections had a satisfactory test-retest r
eliability (Intraclass correlation coefficient 0.43-0.06). All scales
of the WOMAC were internally consistent (Cronbach's coefficient alpha
0.81-0.96) and associated with radiological OA-severity and joint rang
e of motion. However, only the function but not the symptom sections (
Cronbach's coefficient alpha knee: 0.55; hip: 0.63) of the self-admini
stered Lequesne OA index were internally consistent for both, patients
with knee and hip OA. Also, the symptom components were not or only w
eakly associated with radiological OA-severity and joint range of moti
on. Conclusions: Although our results are based on a German version us
ing a self-report format we may caution using the self-administered Le
quesne OA index without prior testing of its metric properties and val
idity.