Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The Paediatric Asthma Caregiver's Quality of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ) is intended to measure the impact of children's asthma on their parents/caregiver's QoL. However, there are no formal validation studies of the Spanish version of PACQLQ. METHODS: In a prospective cohort validation study, asthmatic children aged between 7 and 17 years and their parents, attended both a baseline and a follow-up visit 2-6 weeks later. In these two visits, we gathered the necessary data for assessing the criterion validity, construct validity, test-retest reliability, sensitivity to change, internal consistency and usability of the PACQLQ. RESULTS: At baseline, PACQLQ scores were significantly different between patients with controlled, partly controlled and uncontrolled asthma (median [IQR] 78.0 [61.0-85.0], 71.0 [37.0-76.0] and 48.0 [40.7-55.0], respectively, p < 0.001), and also between patients for whom this visit resulted in a step-up versus no change or a step-down in therapy (50.0 [40.0-60.0] versus 78.0 [61.0-85.0]; p < 0.001). PACQLQ scores at baseline were significantly lower than those obtained in the follow-up visit in patients with change for the better in the global rating of change questionnaire (median [IQR] 50.0 [42.5-56.0] versus 80.0 [78.5-85.0]; p < 0.001). The intraclass correlation coefficient of the measurements was 0.839 (95%CI: 0.735-0.902). The Cronbach α was 0.914 for the questionnaire as a whole. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish version of the PACQLQ has adequate construct validity, adequate sensitivity to change, good internal consistency, excellent test-retest reliability and good usability when employed in children aged between 7 and 17 years with physician-diagnosed asthma.