Health-related quality of life in pediatric minor injury: reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory in the emergency department.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the feasibility, reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales (PedsQL) in the first 2 weeks after pediatric emergency department care of minor injury.


METHODS
Prospective cohort study.


METHODS
Pediatric hospital emergency department.


METHODS
Children and adolescents with minor injury (n = 334).


METHODS
Child- and parent-reported clinical outcomes and PedsQL scale scores.


RESULTS
The PedsQL had good to excellent internal consistency reliability (α range, 0.73-0.93). For each day that the clinical symptoms persisted, there were consistent decreases in mean health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scores (validity testing). There were significantly greater negative changes in mean HRQOL scores for fractures vs soft-tissue injuries and for lower vs upper extremity injuries. Clinical outcomes categorized as poor had large negative changes in HRQOL not seen in good outcome groups. Distribution-based indicators of change supported good responsiveness (effect sizes for the physical summary score, 0.01-2.44; group differences at follow-up exceeded estimates of the minimal importance difference).


CONCLUSIONS
The PedsQL is feasible, reliable, and demonstrates good construct and discriminant validity and responsiveness in measuring short-term outcome after minor injury care in the pediatric emergency department. Assessing short-term outcome from the patient perspective with HRQOL measures may greatly enhance our ability to evaluate the effectiveness of emergency department care.
Section of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Research Institute, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA. mstevens@mcw.edu
Martha W
MW
Stevens
Keri R
KR
Hainsworth
Steven J
SJ
Weisman
Peter M
PM
Layde
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy*