Capturing quality of life in pediatric orthopaedics: two recent measures compared

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Orthopaedics
• Health Outcomes Research
• Measurement in Medicine

Background:

• Assessing health status in pediatric orthopaedic patients requires validated instruments.
• Existing measures may not adequately capture the complexities of physical and psychosocial health in this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the validity and utility of the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument (AAOS PODCI) in a pediatric orthopaedic cohort.
• To determine if these instruments can differentiate health status based on diagnosis and comorbidities.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 242 pediatric patients with diverse orthopaedic diagnoses.
• Assessment of the CHQ and AAOS PODCI for their ability to measure physical and psychosocial health domains.
• Secondary factor analysis to examine the instruments' domain structure and discriminative capacity.

Main Results:

• The CHQ and AAOS PODCI generally performed as intended, despite some ceiling effects in specific domains.
• Factor analysis confirmed that the instruments' domains effectively distinguish between physical and psychosocial health.
• Several domains from both instruments demonstrated the ability to discriminate between different diagnosis groups and patients with varying numbers of comorbidities.

Conclusions:

• The Child Health Questionnaire and the AAOS Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument show significant promise for assessing health status in children with orthopaedic conditions.
• These validated measures are valuable tools for defining and tracking health outcomes in pediatric orthopaedic populations.