Performance of the EuroQol in children with imperforate anus

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and validity of a proxy version o f the EuroQol in children treated for imperforate anus. Methods: Patients i ncluded were between 1 and 51 years of age. Instruments included were the E uroQol, the TACQOL and a disease specific questionnaire, the Langemeijer St ool Questionnaire. Patients older than 15 years filled in all questionnaire s themselves, in the age groups 5-10 and 11-15 a parent administered the qu estionnaires. Feasibility was judged on the number of missing values. In se arch of validity, EuroQol scores were compared with the prevalence of disea se symptoms (convergent validity) and with the TACQOL (construct validity). Results: The number of missings was not related to age. The disease specif ic questionnaire correlated significantly with the EQ(vas) from 11 years on and with the EQ-5D(index) from 5 years on. The mean correlation between co ntextual similar domains of the EuroQol and the TACQOL was -0.55. The corre lation between different domains was -0.32. Conclusion: The results support the idea that the use of a proxy version of the EuroQol is feasible and va lid. The convergent validity of the EQ(vas) was supported from 11 years on. The EQ-5D showed good construct and convergent validity from 5 years on.