[Hungarian validation of the Clubfoot Disease-Specific Instrument]

Congenital structural clubfoot is the most common congenital deformity of the foot. Despite successful treatment, the affected side may present signs of athrophy, differences in length, functional maldevelopment and in some cases it may also result in pain. Although several international studies have been investigating the quality of life of individuals with clubfoot, no research has been done in Hungary. Patient-based assessment is used for the evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment and for the comparison of the traditional versus the Ponseti method.

To gain permission for the use of the internationally most well-known Clubfoot Disease-Specific Instrument (hereafter: 'Clubfoot Specific Questionnaire') consisting of 10 items and two subscales, and furthermore, to adapt its parent and child-version for Hungary and to carry out the internal and external validity testing of the measure.

The Questionnaire was completed by 75 individuals (44 boys, 28 girls) belonging to three age groups (under age 12, aged 12-17.99 years and those aged above 18); the mean age was 12.45 years (range: 2-44 years). The measures used: the Hungarian version of the 'Clubfoot Specific Questionnaire' (adapted versions for the given age groups), and the Hungarian version of EQ-5D-3L to measure the general quality of life.

Both the parent- and the child-version of the 'Clubfoot Specific Questionnaire' showed adequate internal validity (parent-version: 0.872, child-version: 0.923); the individual items showed medium to strong correlations with the EQ-5D-3L dimensions besides the existing significant connections.

The Hungarian adaptation of the measure proved to be successful. The validated questionnaire provides a further tool for the assessment of the quality of life of individuals with clubfoot and also for the evaluation of the success rate of therapies. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(31): 1269-1277.