How to measure health status in rheumatoid arthritis in non-English speaking patients: validation of a Spanish version of the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (Spanish HAQ-DI).
The HAQ-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) is a useful instrument to measure health status in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Translation into another language requires a validation process, however. We have translated the HAQ-DI to be used on Spanish-speaking populations. We administered the questionnaire to 97 RA patients during the course of routine medical care. Reliability, measured by a test-retest with a one-month interval, was high (Spearman's rho = 0.89). Convergent and construct validity was obtained for all comparisons (Pearson's r > 0.4). The instrument was sensitive in detecting clinical improvement. We conclude that the Spanish HAQ-DI retains the characteristics of the original index and can be used to assess outcome in Spanish-speaking patients with RA. The procedure described may be used to translate the instrument into other languages either directly from English or from the Spanish version presented here.
Department of Immunology and Rheumatology, Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.
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Cardiel
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Abello-Banfi
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Ruiz-Mercado
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Alarcon-Segovia
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires