Use of a subjective health measure on Chinese low back pain patients in Hong Kong

Abstract

Study Design. A prospective observational study on the use of the Aberdeen Low Back Pain Disability Scale.

Objective. To evaluate the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Chinese adaptation of the Aberdeen Low Back Pain Scale in Chinese patients in Hong Kong who have back pain.

Summary of Background Data. Frontline clinicians, researchers, and health care managers in Hong Kong are urgently in need of a Chinese adaptation of a low back pain outcome measure that has been subjected to a rigorous process of psychometric and clinical testing.

Methods. Four samples with 473 consecutive adult patients with low back pain from six physiotherapy outpatient departments in Hong Kong who completed the Aberdeen Low Back Pain Scale were observed and measured at time points including the beginning physiotherapy; 10 days, 3 weeks, and 6 weeks after physiotherapy; and when discharged from treatment.

Results. The test–retest reliability coefficient was 0.94 (0.94 in the original English version; figures from the English version are reported in parentheses). The Cronbach α coefficient was 0.85 (0.80). The Spearman correlation coefficient, when the Aberdeen score was correlated with that of a generic current 42-item questionnaire regarding the patient’s perceived health to establish cross-sectional construct validity, was 0.59 (0.36–0.66, with the Short Form 36 scale). The effect sizes (responsiveness) at weeks 3 and 6 after treatment began were 0.59 and 0.81, respectively (a high of 0.62 reported in the English version).

Conclusions. The Chinese version of the Aberdeen Low Back Pain Disability Scale retained the high levels of reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the original English version when tested in Hong Kong in four samples of Chinese patients with low back pain.