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

We report herein the results of the cross-cultural adaptation anti validati on of 2 health related quality of life instruments into the European Spanis h language. The Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) is a disea se specific health instrument that measures functional ability in daily liv ing activities in children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). The Ch ild Health Questionnaire (CHQ) is a generic health instrument designed to c apture the physical and psychosocial well-being of children independently f rom an underlying disease. The Spanish CHQ was fully validated with 3 forwa rd and 3 backward translations, while the Spanish CHAQ, already published, was revalidated. A total of 149 subjects were enrolled: 80 patients with JI A (28% systemic arthritis, 34% polyarthritis, 17% extended oligoarthritis, and 21% persistent oligoarthritis) and 69 healthy children. The CHAQ approp riately distinguished health), subjects from JIA patients, with those class ified in the systemic arthritis, polyarthritis and extended oligoarthritis categories having a higher degree of disability and pain, as well as a lowe r overall well-being than their healthy peers. The CHQ was also able to dis criminate health), subjects from JIA patients, with those allocated in the systemic arthritis, polyarthritis and extended oligoarthritis categories ha ving a lower physical and psychosocial well-being than their healthy counte rparts. In conclusion, the European Spanish version of the CHAQ-CHQ is a reliable a nd valid tool for the functional, physical and psychosocial assessment of c hildren with JIA.