Health-related quality of life and functional outcome measures for children with cerebral palsy

The aim of this study was to examine measures of health-related quality of life (HRQL) in children with cerebral palsy (CP) by comparing scores of a g eneric HRQL measure, the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ); a disease-specif ic HRQL measure for children with CP, the Caregiver Questionnaire (CQ); and a pediatric functional measure, the Wee-Functional Independence Measure (W eeFIM(R)). Participants included 30 caregivers of children with CP. The car egivers' children were a mean age of 8 years 6 months (17 females, 13 males ). The ethnic origin of the children was 18 African-American, 8 white, 3 Hi spanic, and 1 Middle Eastern. Significant correlations were found between t he CQ and WeeFIM total and subscale scores (r=0.398 to 0.641). There was no correlation between the CHQ and CQ total summary scores, but significant c orrelations were found between the CHQ subscales related to parent tame and family cohesion and the CQ total and subscale scores (r=0.386 to 0.481). T he lack of correlation between the CHQ and WeeFIM indicates HRQL and functi on are different constructs that cannot be inferred from each other. The fa ir relationship found between the CQ and WeeFIM suggests that the construct s measured in these two assessments overlap. The lack of correlation betwee n the total summary scores of the CHQ and CQ suggests the CQ may be a more specific measure of HRQL for this population that reflects the impact of th e child's condition on the caregiver.