Translation and validation of Gujarati version of Indian HAQ in RA patients

Background: Routine assessments of disease activity and functional status play a key part in ensuring a high-quality rheumatologic care. The most widely used, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), has become a standard outcome measure of physical function in clinical studies. Aims and Objectives: The study aimed to translate the English version of Indian Version of Health Assessment Questionnaire into Gujarati language and validate the translated Gujarati version of the scale. Materials and Methods: The English version of HAQ was translated into Gujarati language using the forward-translations and back-translation method. The translated questionnaire was administered to a sample of 65 outpatients on routine follow up visit and one week later with rheumatoid arthritis (mean age) to test for content validity and reliability. Results: Internal consistency of each item was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha and the Construct validity was evaluated by determining Spearman's correlation between the Gujarati Indian HAQ score and disease activity variables. Reliability testing showed an intraclass coefficient for HAQ of 0. 848. The internal consistency was acceptable with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.91 and indicated adequate construct validity. Conclusion: Hence it is suggestive that the Gujarati version of Indian HAQ is a reliable and valid tool for evaluation of the functional status in rheumatoid patients.