Validation of a parent-proxy quality of life questionnaire for paediatric chronic cough (PC-QOL).
BACKGROUND
Quality of life (QOL) measures are an important patient-relevant outcome measure for clinical studies. Currently there is no fully validated cough-specific QOL measure for paediatrics. The objective of this study was to validate a cough-specific QOL questionnaire for paediatric use.


METHODS
43 children (28 males, 15 females; median age 29 months, IQR 20-41 months) newly referred for chronic cough participated. One parent of each child completed the 27-item Parent Cough-Specific QOL questionnaire (PC-QOL), and the generic child (Pediatric QOL Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL)) and parent QOL questionnaires (SF-12) and two cough-related measures (visual analogue score and verbal category descriptive score) on two occasions separated by 2-3 weeks. Cough counts were also objectively measured on both occasions.


RESULTS
Internal consistency for both the domains and total PC-QOL at both test times was excellent (Cronbach alpha range 0.70-0.97). Evidence for repeatability and criterion validity was established, with significant correlations over time and significant relationships with the cough measures. The PC-QOL was sensitive to change across the test times and these changes were significantly related to changes in cough measures (PC-QOL with: verbal category descriptive score, r(s)=-0.37, p=0.016; visual analogue score, r(s)=-0.47, p=0.003). Significant correlations of the difference scores for the social domain of the PC-QOL and the domain and total scores of the PedsQL were also noted (r(s)=0.46, p=0.034).


CONCLUSIONS
The PC-QOL is a reliable and valid outcome measure that assesses QOL related to childhood cough at a given time point and measures changes in cough-specific QOL over time.
Newcombe
Peter A
PA
School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences. School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, 11 Salisbury Road, Ipswich, Queensland 4305, Australia. newc@psy.uq.edu.au
Sheffield
Jeanie K
JK
Juniper
Elizabeth F
EF
Petsky
Helen L
HL
Willis
Carol
C
Chang
Anne B
AB
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003371:Cough / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D019727:Proxy; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires