Use of a children questionnaire of health-related quality of life (KIDSCREEN) as a measure of needs for health care services.
OBJECTIVE
To check if the expected association is observed between children and adolescents' self-perceived health-related quality of life (HRQL) and the use of health care services.


METHODS
The data come from the pilot test of a European measure of HRQL for children and adolescents (KIDSCREEN). Children answered the KIDSCREEN 52-item pilot version. Visits to a health professional in the past four weeks and hospitalisation in the past 12 months were collected from parents. A logistic regression model was adjusted to analyse the relationship between the use of health services and HRQL.


RESULTS
A total of 2526 children and their parents were included in the analysis. Factors associated to visits in the past four weeks were poor physical well-being (odds ratio [OR] 1.83; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.42-2.35), and poor school environment (OR 1.32; 95% CI 1.02-1.71). Low scores on moods and emotions was the associated factor to hospitalization in the past 12 months (OR 2.13; 95% CI 1.29-3.81).


CONCLUSIONS
Children and adolescents are a feasible source for their self-assessment of HRQL. They should be taken into account in health care needs studies.
Rajmil
Luis
L
Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research, Barcelona, Spain. lrajmil@aatrm.catsalut.net
Alonso
Jordi
J
Berra
Silvina
S
Ravens-Sieberer
Ulrike
U
Gosch
Angela
A
Simeoni
Marie-Claude
MC
Auquier
Pascal
P
D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003710:Demography; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires