The Responsiveness of the Modified Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire.

Objective: To determine the ability of the revised version of the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ), the VAS, to detect clinical change over time in pediatric patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). We studied the relative responsiveness of the VAS as compared to the original CHAQ-30 and revised CHAQ-38, as well as the parent-patient, physician-patient, and physician-parent concordance.

Methods: The CHAQ-38 and VAS were administered to 30 parents and patients (if older than 8 years) with any subtype of JIA before and after the start of a new treatment. The standardized response means (SRM) were calculated for the VAS, the original CHAQ-30, and the CHAQ-38. Comparisons of SRM were made using the relative SRM. Parent-patient, physician-patient, and physician-parent concordances were assessed by calculating a series of intraclass correlation coefficients.

Results: Twenty-seven parents and 21 patients completed questionnaires at both visits. All questionnaires demonstrated large responsiveness; however, the VAS was found to be about 25% more responsive than both the original CHAQ-30 and CHAQ-38.

Conclusion: The VAS was moderately more responsive than the CHAQ-30 and CHAQ-38 in both parent and patient groups and should be considered for use in studies evaluating change in function over time.