Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Persian Version of the 24-Item Early-Onset Scoliosis Questionnaire

Study Design Cross-sectional study. Purpose To translate and culturally adapt the original English version of the 24-item Early-Onset Scoliosis Questionnaire (EOSQ-24) to the Persian language as well as assess its reliability and validity. Overview of Literature Early-onset scoliosis (EOS) patients with progressive curves require active treatments, such as serial elongation-derotation-flexion casting, bracing, and surgery, which are stressful and expensive. In order to evaluate the impact of EOS and its treatment strategies, it is important to consider the patients and their parents' quality of life as the clinical and radiological parameters. The EOSQ-24 is a parent-based measure that evaluates the health-related quality of life of patients with EOS and their caregivers/parents. Similar to other widely used questionnaires, EOSQ-24 needs to be translated into other languages to make it usable in populations from different cultures and societies. Methods We evaluated the translation and back translation of the EOSQ-24 and made the required revisions as per the analysis performed by the expert committee and an international guideline to adapt it for use in this study. Thereafter, we recruited 100 EOS patients in order to evaluate its reliability and validity. The reliability was assessed with internal consistency. Convergent validity was assessed by comparing the scores of the EOSQ-24 and the 22-item Scoliosis Research Society Questionnaire (SRS-22r). Finally, the known groups validity was assessed as per patient's sex, curve magnitude, and treatment type. Results The Persian EOSQ-24 demonstrated very good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.88). All the items had an acceptable corrected item-total correlation (>0.3). Further, the EOSQ-24 and the SRS-22r scores (p<0.001) were significantly correlated. The EOSQ-24 could discriminate patients with different curve magnitudes. Conclusions The Persian EOSQ-24 can serve as a disease-specific instrument with strong validity and reliability in the evaluation of EOS patients. Its applicability in other Persian-speaking countries and regions of the world needs to be investigated further.