Abstracts

Rationale: There is a need for brief, practical measures of quality of life (QOL) that can be used by health-practitioners aiming to monitor treatment progress of children with epilepsy. The current study investigated the psychometric properties of a single-item QOL measure, the Global Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy question (G-QOLCE). Methods: Data came from the Impact of Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery on Health-Related Quality of Life Study (PESQOL), a multicenter prospective cohort study (N = 181) with observations collected at baseline and 6-months follow-up on children aged 4 – 18 years. The G-QOLCE was a question derived from QOLCE-76. Construct validity was examined by measuring Spearman’s correlations of the G-QOLCE with composite and subscale scores from two QOL questionnaires (QOLCE-76 and KIDSCREEN-27). Ordered logistic regression was conducted to assess the relationship between G-QOLCE scores and risk factors of QOL in children with epilepsy. Test-retest reliability was quantified using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: The G-QOLCE was at least moderately correlated (r ≥ .30, p < .001) with composite scores and subscales of the QOLCE-76 and KIDSCREEN-27 at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Household income explained the most variation in G-QOLCE scores at baseline (B = 0.16, p = .008), while caregiver anxiety explained the greatest variation at 6-month follow-up (B = -.20, p = .005). The G-QOLCE had acceptable test-retest reliability (ICC range: 0.49-0.72), with QOLCE-76 composite scores most strongly related to stability in G-QOLCE scores from baseline to 6-months follow-up (ICC: .72, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.86).  Conclusions: Results offer promising preliminary evidence regarding the validity and reliability of the proposed single-item QOL measure. The G-QOLCE is a potentially useful tool that can be feasibly administered in a busy clinical setting to evaluate clinical status and impact of treatment outcomes in pediatric epilepsy. Funding: PESQOL was funded by a grant from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (MOP-133708) to Dr. Widjaja and Dr. Smith. Ms. Conway is supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.