[Validating the Oswestry Disability Index in patients with low back pain in Sichuan].

Objective: To test the reliability and validity of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) in patients with low back pain in China.

Methods: Eighty six patients (female 51, male 35, average age 39.5 +/- 10.1) with chronic low back pain were assessed with the ODI. The assessment was repeated 48 hours after the first test.

Results: The Cronbach' Alpha coefficient for the ODI was 0.891. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the repeated tests was 0.854 (95% CI = 0.775-0.905). The exploratory factor analysis extracted two factors, which accounted for 61.91% of the total variance. Significant correlations were found between the ODI and the 6 domains of the SF-36.

Conclusion: The Chinese version of Oswestry Disability Index has satisfactory reliability and validity. It can be used as an instrument for assessing chronic low back pain-related disability.