Article

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the reliability and validity of the improved version of
the Patient Generated Index (PGI) in patients with low back pain. METHODS: The
PGI was administered to 90 patients attending care in 1 of 6 institutions in
Norway and evaluated for reliability and validity. The questionnaire was given
out to 61 patients for re-test purposes. RESULTS: The PGI was completed correctly
by 80 (88.9%) patients and, of the 61 patients responding to the re-test, 50
(82.0%) completed both surveys correctly. PGI scores were approximately normally
distributed, with a median of 40 (range 80), where 100 is the best possible
quality of life. There were no floor or ceiling effects. The 5 most frequently
listed areas affecting quality of life were pain, sleep, stiffness, socializing
and housework. The test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.73. The
smallest detectable changes for individual and group purposes were 32.8 and 4.6,
respectively. The correlations between PGI scores and other instrument scores
followed a priori hypotheses of low to moderate correlations. DISCUSSION: The PGI
has evidence for reliability and validity in Norwegian patients with low back
pain at the group level and may be considered for application in intervention
studies when a comprehensive evaluation of quality of life is important. However,
the smallest detectable change, of approximately 30 points, may be considered too
large for individual purposes in clinical applications.

Langue : ANGLAIS