Performance of the EuroQol in children with imperforate anus

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and validity of a proxy version of the EuroQol in children treated for imperforate anus. Methods: Patients included were between 1 and 51 years of age. Instruments included were the EuroQol, the TACQOL and a disease specific questionnaire, the Langemeijer Stool Questionnaire. Patients older than 15 years filled in all questionnaires themselves, in the age groups 5-10 and 11-15 a parent administered the questionnaires. Feasibility was judged on the number of missing values. In search of validity, EuroQol scores were compared with the prevalence of disease symptoms (convergent validity) and with the TACQOL (construct validity). Results: The number of missings was not related to age. The disease specific questionnaire correlated significantly with the EQ(vas) from 11 years on and with the EQ-5D(index) from 5 years on. The mean correlation between contextual similar domains of the EuroQol and the TACQOL was -0.55. The correlation between different domains was -0.32. Conclusion: The results support the idea that the use of a proxy version of the EuroQol is feasible and valid. The convergent validity of the EQ(vas) was supported from 11 years on. The EQ-5D showed good construct and convergent validity from 5 years on.