The Child Health Questionnaire in children with diabetes: cross-sectional survey of parent and adolescent-reported functional health status

Aims To study parent and adolescent-reported physical, psychosocial and fam ily wellbeing in children aged 5-18 years with diabetes. Methods Subjects: 5-18-year-olds attending a diabetes clinic at a tertiary children's hospital. Measures: (1) Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) PF-50, a functional heath status measure for children aged 5-18 years (parents); ( 2) CHQ CF-80, a similar self-report measure (adolescents aged 12-18 years); (3) 11 study-designed questions related to diabetes-specific concerns (par ents); (4) global ratings of physical and psychosocial health (clinicians); (5) HbA(1c) level (all subjects). CHQ data were compared with Australian n ormative data collected six months earlier. Results Reports were obtained from 128 parents and 71 adolescents (90 and 9 2% response). The CHQ demonstrated good psychometric properties in this sam ple of children with diabetes. Parents reported children with diabetes to h ave generally poorer health than children in the normative sample, especial ly on psychosocial and parent/family scales. Psychosocial health was marked ly lower in 5-11-year-olds with HbA(1c) > 8.8%, but not in 12-18-year-olds. Presence of diabetes-related symptoms and concerns correlated with lower p hysical and psychosocial functioning. Parents and clinicians concurred in t heir ratings of health for 12-18-year-olds but not 5-11-year-olds. Adolesce nts reported their own health similarly to adolescents in the normative sam ple. Conclusions Parents report children aged 5-18 years with diabetes to have p oorer health than children in the normative sample across all domains. Clin icians may underrate the impact of diabetes for younger children, with poss ible therapeutic implications. In providing an overall description of healt h, instruments like the CHQ may add another dimension to the care of childr en with diabetes and can feasibly be used within clinical settings.