Construct validation of the Health Utilities Index and the Child Health Questionnaire in children undergoing cancer chemotherapy

• Published in: British journal of cancer Vol. 88; no. 8; pp. 1185 - 1190
• Main Authors: Sung, L, Greenberg, M L, Doyle, J J, Young, N L, Ingber, S, Rubenstein, J, Wong, J, Samanta, T, McLimont, M, Feldman, B M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22.04.2003; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Adolescent; Antineoplastic agents; Attitude to Health; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cancer Research; Cancer therapies; Chemotherapy; Child; Children & youth; Childrens health; Clinical; Drug Resistance; Epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health Status; Hematology; Humans; Medical research; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Molecular Medicine; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neoplasms - psychology; Oncology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Psychology and medicine; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Regression Analysis; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validation studies; Validity; Toronto Ontario Canada; Canada; health-related quality of life; chemotherapy; Child Health Questionnaire; Health Utilities Index; pediatric; Human; Antineoplastic agent; Questionnaire; Psychometrics; Malignant hemopathy; Malignant tumor; Quality of life; Construct validity; Chemotherapy; Treatment; Child
• ISSN: 0007-0920; 1532-1827
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6600895

The objective of this study was to evaluate the construct validity of two questionnaire-based measures of health-related quality of life (HRQL) in children undergoing cancer chemotherapy: the Health Utilities Index (HUI) and the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ). Subjects were children hospitalised for chemotherapy. To examine construct validity: (1) a priori expected relations between CHQ concepts and HUI attributes were examined; (2) HUI and CHQ summary scores were compared to visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. Ease of completion was rated using a 5-point categorical scale and completion time was recorded. A total of 36 subjects were included. The maximum score was seen in 15 (47%) of HUI3 assessments. As predicted, CHQ body pain was moderately correlated with HUI3 pain ( r =0.51), CHQ physical functioning was moderately correlated with HUI2 mobility ( r =0.58) and CHQ mental health was moderately correlated with HUI2 emotion ( r =0.53). Only the CHQ psychosocial subscale (and not HUI) was correlated with VAS ( r =0.44). The CHQ and the HUI were both easy to use. The HUI questionnaires required less time to complete (mean=3.1, s.d.=1 min) compared with CHQ (mean=13.1, s.d.=3.4 min, P <0.0001). In conclusion, HUI and CHQ demonstrated construct validity in children undergoing cancer chemotherapy. The Health Utilities Index is subject to a ceiling effect whereas CHQ requires more time to complete.