Polish Adaptation and Validation of Limb Deformity-Scoliosis Research Society (LD-SRS) Questionnaire

Background: Currently, there is a deficit of questionnaires available in Polish for as-sessing the quality of life of children with limb deformities. The LD-SRS questionnaire consists of 30 questions in 5 domains: function, experienced pain, patient's own ap-pearance, mental health and satisfaction with management, scored on a 1–5 scale, where higher scores indicate better quality of life. The aim was to culturally adapt and validate the LD-SRS questionnaire into Polish. Methods: The questionnaire has been translated from English into Polish by two translators. An expert team composed of physicians, nurses and a psychologist analysed the translations and developed the initial Polish version. It was translated back into English and analysed for the differences from the original to work out the pre-final version. After approval by the local ethics committee, the pre-final version was applied to a group of 21 patients as a pilot study. Then, the final version of the form was developed and tested once on the group of 77 children, mean age 13.9 years (8-20 years), and twice on the group of 34 children, mean age 15.9 years (12-19 years). The retest was obtained within 7 days (4-15 days). Results: The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.92, showing excellent internal consistency. The ICC value for total LD-SRS score (0.99) signified excellent reliability. The overall total LD-SRS score was 3.8 (SD=0.6). The results in each category were: function/activity 3.4 (SD=0.7), pain 3.9 (SD=1.0), self-image 3.5 (SD=0.7), mental health 3.6 (SD=1.0), satisfaction with management 4.2 (SD=0.8). We found no floor or ceiling effect for the total LD-SRS score. Conclusions: The Polish version of the LD-SRS questionnaire was found to be a reliable instrument with excellent internal consistency and can be used in assessing the quality of life of children treated for limb deformities.