Development and testing of a specific quality-of-life questionnaire for knee and hip osteoarthritis: OAKHQOL (OsteoArthritis of Knee Hip Quality Of Life).
OBJECTIVE
To design a quality-of-life (QOL) instrument specific for patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis and to assess its validity and reproducibility.


METHODS
One-on-one or group interviews were conducted with 79 patients and 28 healthcare professionals. Of the 80 potential items identified from the results, 46 were selected based on their content and were used to develop version 1 of the OsteoArthritis of Knee and Hip Quality of Life Scale (OAKHQOL). The psychometric characteristics of the scale were evaluated in patients who met Altman's criteria for knee or hip osteoarthritis.


RESULTS
Based on the results of psychometric analyses in 263 patients, three items were excluded, leaving 43 items in the final version (2.3) of the OAKHQOL. Principal components analysis identified four domains: physical activities, mental health, social functioning, and social support. A pain domain was individualized later. Construct validity, reproducibility, and discriminating power of the domains were satisfactory. Standardized response means after joint replacement surgery were close to 1 for the pain and physical functioning domains and equal to 0.7 for the mental health domain, indicating good sensitivity to change.


CONCLUSIONS
The OAKHQOL is the first QOL tool specifically dedicated to lower-limb osteoarthritis. It captures specific aspects of QOL in patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis and exhibits psychometric properties consistent with use in longitudinal studies.
Rat
Anne-Christine
AC
Service d'épidémiologie et évaluation clinique, EA 4003, centre d'épidémiologie clinique, CEC-Inserm CIE6, hôpital Marin, CHU de Nancy, 2, avenue du Maréchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny, C.O no 34, 54035 Nancy cedex, France. ac.rat@chu-nancy.fr
Pouchot
Jacques
J
Coste
Joël
J
Baumann
Cédric
C
Spitz
Elizabeth
E
Retel-Rude
Nathalie
N
Baumann
Michèle
M
Le Quintrec
Janine-Sophie
JS
Dumont-Fischer
Dominique
D
Guillemin
Francis
F
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015207:Osteoarthritis, Hip / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*