Evaluation of hand function in rheumatic disease. Validation and usefulness of the Spanish version AUSCAN, m-SACRAH...

Questionnaires to evaluate hand function are variable in the number of items, domains and diseases in which they had been previously used.

a) To translate to Spanish and validate the m-SACRAH and AUSCAN questionnaires; b) to do a transcultural adaptation of DASHe, previously validated in Spain), and c) to compare them and the Cochin questionnaire (previously validated in México), in rheumatic patients with variable impairment of hand function.

m-SACRAH, AUSCAN and DASH were translated/retro-translated and adapted. The final version was revised to determine content validity and them, plus Cochin were applied to 10 healthy subjects (pilot study) with a variable educational level and in 16 rheumatic patients with variable diagnoses and degrees of hand function impairment; all patients answered 4 questionnaires and were evaluated clinically by blinded investigators.

Seventy six percent were women, mean age 45.7±11.4 years. Cronbach́s alpha >0.90; time to answer went from 2.3±0.087 (AUSCAN) to 3.5±0.36 minutes (DASH). There was good correlation among them (r=0.0683 AUSCAN-m-SACRAH to r=0.889 AUSCAN-DASH) and good capability for discrimination between patients with mild VS moderate to severe impairment was also demonstrated; patients with mild impairment needed less time to answer them and there were no significant differences among questionnaire scores. Patients prefered AUSCAN (10/16), Cochin (4/16) and m-SACRAH (2/16).

The 4 questionnaires are useful to evaluate hand function in rheumatic patients and have good discrimination capability. More patients preferred AUSCAN.