Aim: Quality of life (QOL) is a concept that incorporates many aspects of life beyond "health". The chronic liver disease questionnaire (CLDQ) was developed to evaluate the impact of chronic liver diseases (CLD) on QOL. The objectives of this study were to translate and validate a liver specific questionnaire, the CLDQ.
Methods: The CLDQ was formally translated from the original version to Thai language with permission. The translation process included forward translation, back translation, cross-cultural adaptation and a pretest. Reliability and validity of the translated version was examined in CLD patients. Enrolled subjects included CLD and normal subjects with age- and sex-matched. Collected data were demography, physical findings and biochemical tests. All subjects were asked to complete the translated versions of CLDQ and SF-36, which was previously validated. Cronbach's alpha and test-retest were performed for reliability analysis. One-way Anova or non-parametric method was used to determine discriminant validity. Spearman's rank correlation was used to assess convergent validity. P -value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: A total of 200 subjects were recruited into the study, with 150 CLD and 50 normal subjects. Mean ages (SD) were 47.3(11.7) and 49.1(8.5) years, respectively. The number of chronic hepatitis: cirrhosis was 76:74, and the ratio of cirrhotic patients classified as Child A:B:C was 37(50%): 26(35%): 11(15%). Cronbach's alpha of the overall CLDQ scores was 0.96 and of all domains were higher than 0.93. Item-total correlation was >0.45. Test-retest reliability done at 1 to 4 wk apart was 0.88 for the average CLDQ score and from 0.68 to 0.90 for domain scores. The CLDQ was found to have discriminant validity. The highest scores of CLDQ domains were in the normal group, scores were lower in the compensated group and lowest in the decompensated group. The significant correlation between domains of the CLDQ and SF-36 was found. The average CLDQ score was strongly correlated with the general health domain of SF-36. (P=0.69: P=0.01).
Conclusion: The translated CLDQ is valid and applicable in Thais with CLD. CLDQ reveals that QOL in these patients is lower than that in normal population. QOL is more impaired in advanced stage of CLD.