title: Validation of the Sinhala version of the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ) for assessment of health related quality of life among Sri Lankan cirrhotics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ) is a validated tool measuring Health Related Quality of Life among patients with cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to validate a Sinhala version of the CLDQ (sCLDQ) and to test its correlation with the degree of liver dysfunction in a cohort of Sri Lankan patients with cirrhosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A standard translation method was used. Pilot testing was done with relevant cultural and language adaptations. The final version and the WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) validated Sinhala version were administered to patients with chronic lever disease (CLD). sCLDQ was re-administered 4 weeks later to test internal consistency and reliability. The validaty and reliability were assessed by Cronabach's alpha, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Pearson's correlation coefficient. ANOVA and Pearson's correlation were used to assess correlation with the degree of liver dysfunction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Validation was done with 214 participants [mean age 55.6 years (SD 10.4) male 77.6%]. Cronabach's alpha was 0.926. Intra-class correlations varied from 0.431 to 0.912 and all were significant (p< 0.001). Retesting was done on a sub-sample of 18 participants. Test-retest correlation was 0.695 (p = 0.008). WHO-BREF was administered to a sub-sample of 48 subjects. There was a significant correlation (Pearson's r=0.391; p=0.004) between sCLDQ and WHOQOL BREF. sCLDQ was significantly associated with MELD (r=-0.13; p=0.038), MELD sodium (r=-0.223; p=0.002), serum bilirubin (r=-0.124; p=0.036), serum sodium (r=0.172; p=0.009), serum albumin (r=0.201; p=0.003) and Child grade (f=3.687; p=0.027).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CLDQ is a reliable and valid tool to assess quality of life of Sri Lankan patients with cirrhosis and correlates well with known indices of disease severity.
authors.affiliation: University Medical Unit, Colombo North Teaching Hospital Ragama, Sri Lanka. jkndmiththinda@gmail.com.
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Ranawaka
authors.forename: J K N D
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Miththinda
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Senanayake
authors.forename: W R S
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: de Alwis
authors.forename: M N F
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Mufeena
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Niriella
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Dassanayake
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: de Silva
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pathmeswaran
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: de Silva
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001663:Bilirubin / Q000097:blood; D002908:Chronic Disease; D058625:End Stage Liver Disease / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012964:Sodium / Q000097:blood; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014177:Translations
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin; D012964:Sodium; D001663:Bilirubin