[Health-related quality of life across weight categories in childhood]

Validity and reliability of a quality-of-life assessment instrument in children aged between 6 and 11 years

BACKGROUND

There is increasing recognition of the importance of obtaining children's reports of their health, but significant challenges remain in accomplishing these goals in a systematic, community-based approach.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the culturally adapted Turkish version of the "Child Health and Illness Profile - Child Edition (CHIP-CE) (6-11) for children 6 to 11 years of age.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional analytical study conducted at Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Eskisehir, Turkey.

SETTING

Children's health and diseases clinic.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

For the purpose of this study, face-to-face interviews were conducted with inpatients (children aged between 6 and 11 years staying in the hospital) and healthy children (children aged between 6 and 11 years attending a private elementary school in the spring semester of 2010-2011). The Turkish version of CHIP-CE (6-11) was administered after the original version of CHIP-CE in English was translated into Turkish, and then back translated into English. All steps in the cultural adaptation process were undertaken meticulously by an expert committee. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test construct validity. The Cronbach's alpha and item-total correlations were used to evaluate internal consistency for reliability testing.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Domain scores on the CHIP-CE questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha and item-total correlations.

RESULTS

The Turkish version of CHIP-CE (6-11) was administered to 235 children, including 109 (46.4%) girls and 126 (53.6%) boys receiving inpatient treatment in the hospital, and 194 healthy children, including 89 (45.9%) girls and 105 (54.1%) boys. The mean (standard deviation) age was 6.9 (1.6) years in the group of children receiving inpatient treatment, and 9.2 (1.6) years in the healthy children. In the reliability testing of the CHIP-CE form, Cronbach's alpha was 0.79 in children receiving inpatient treatment, and 0.80 in healthy children. These values indicate excellent reliability. The CFA measurement model produced results consistent with standards: c2=185.76 df=160 P=.07986 RMSEA=0.026 in the children receiving inpatient treatment, and c2=180.20 df=109 P=.00002 RMSEA=0.058 in healthy children.

CONCLUSION

CHIP-CE proved to be a reliable and valid measurement instrument for children receiving treatment for various diseases and healthy children. The internal consistency of the Turkish version of CHIP-CE is acceptable.

LIMITATIONS

The sample, although large and diverse, was self-selected and does not represent the population of children in Turkey.

Differences between men and women in self-reported body mass index and its relation to drug use

Background

Obesity is a public health problem of alarming proportions, including among the university population in Latin America. The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between the self-reported body mass index and the associated drug use and health-risk behaviors.

Methods

We performed a cross-sectional, descriptive study of 3,311 Chilean university students (17–24 years). The variables weight, height, frequency of physical activity, diet quality index, and drug use were evaluated by way of a self-report questionnaire.

Results

16.7% of students were overweight and 2.1% were obese. Higher rates of overweight and obesity were observed in the men compared to women. There was a significant but moderate association between self-perceived obesity and being men and higher age, and just low with greater use of analgesics and tranquilizers with or without a prescription.

Conclusions

The punctual prevalence rates of self-reported obesity, in this sample, are consistent with other Latin American studies. The risk behaviors associated with perceived obesity in terms of gender, particularly the different pattern of drug use, highlight the importance of considering gender when designing strategies to promote health in a university setting.