The validation of a new comprehensive headache-specific quality of life questionnaire.
BACKGROUND
Measuring quality of life (QOL) is an important means of assessing the impact of headache. The currently used QOL questionnaires are usually geared toward migraine and focus on a limited number of factors, thus they are not necessarily informative in other headache types. We report the psychometric properties of a new questionnaire, the Comprehensive Headache-related Quality of life Questionnaire (CHQQ) that may be more sensitive to the burden of headache.


METHODS
A total of 202 patients suffering from migraine (n = 168) or tension-type headache (TTH) (n = 34) completed the CHQQ and SF-36, a generic QOL questionnaire. We assessed the reliability and validity of the CHQQ and its physical, mental and social dimensions.


RESULTS
The questionnaire was easy to administer. Reliability was excellent with Cronbach's alpha being 0.913 for the whole instrument (0.814-0.832 for its dimensions). The dimensions and total score showed significant correlations with the patients' headache characteristics (criterion validity), and were also significantly correlated with the SF-36 domains (convergent validity). The total score and dimensions were significantly (p < 0.005) lower in the migraine group than in the TTH group (discriminative validity).


CONCLUSIONS
In this study the new headache-specific QOL instrument showed adequate psychometric properties.
Department of Neurology, Nyírő Gyula Hospital, Hungary.
Nóra
N
Manhalter
György
G
Bozsik
Agnes
A
Palásti
Eva
E
Csépány
Csaba
C
Ertsey
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000592:standards; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D018781:Tension-Type Headache / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult