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Validation of French version of the Scleroderma Health Assessment Questionnaire (SSc HAQ)

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Abstract

The modified Scleroderma Health Assessment Questionnaire (SSc HAQ) is a functional score to assess systemic sclerosis (SSc) comprising the HAQ disease index (HAQ-DI) plus five specific visual analogue scales (VAS). Since it was validated in English-speaking patients only, its general use in any other language necessitates prior cross-cultural adaptation and validation. We designed this study to assess its value in French-speaking patients and to validate the French version according to international recommendations. We elaborated a French version using the “forward-backward” method. We then validated its psychometric properties with 100 consecutive SSc French-speaking patients who had undergone simultaneous clinical and paraclinical examination. In addition, we calculated the SSc HAQ score, a new outcome measure, which is obtained by pooling the eight domains from the HAQ-DI with the five organ VAS. Our study confirmed the psychometric properties of the SSc HAQ in non-English-speaking patients with (a) structural validity: the major component analysis, performed on the HAQ-DI and the five VAS, yielding a two-factor structure; (b) convergent validity: with high correlation coefficients between the SSc HAQ score and the physical component score of the SF-36 (r=−0.74, p<0.0001); (c) discriminant validity: the SSc HAQ score was better in patients with limited than with diffuse SSc (0.5±0.5 vs 1.1±0.7, respectively, p<0.0001) in relation to the number of clinical involvements; (d) reproducibility was high using the test-retest procedure (r=0.98). This study showed the value of the SSc HAQ, which is a simple, discriminant, reproducible self-administered questionnaire to evaluate French-speaking SSc patients. In addition, we suggest the use of a new outcome measure, the SSc HAQ score, to assess this systemic disease more accurately.

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Acknowledgement

We thank S. Arfi, C. Carbon, R. Damade, J. Emmerich, L. Guillevin, E. Hachulla, G. Hayem, D. Ilie, P. M’Bappe, P. Philippe, P. Roblot, and J. Sibilia for their participation in recruitment of the patients and G. Caspari for her contribution in revising the manuscript.

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Correspondence to C. Georges.

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Grant support was provided by the Délégation Régionale à la Recherche Clinique (DRRC), Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) and the French Ministry of Health (Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique: PHRC 1997 AOM 97–030)

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Georges, C., Chassany, O., Mouthon, L. et al. Validation of French version of the Scleroderma Health Assessment Questionnaire (SSc HAQ). Clin Rheumatol 24, 3–10 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-004-0942-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-004-0942-3

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