Validation in Colombia of the Oswestry disability questionnaire in patients with low back pain.

STUDY DESIGN: Observational study to validate a scale.

OBJECTIVE: To translate, culturally adapt, and validate the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), version 2.1a.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The ODI is one of the most frequently used tools to evaluate disability in patients with low back pain. Its psychometric properties have shown to be highly reliable. Currently, no validated Colombian version is available.

METHODS: The ODI (2.1a) was translated into Spanish and this translated version was analyzed in terms of semantic and linguistic equivalence. Then, the Spanish version was translated back into English. The first time, the ODI was administered to a total of 111 patients with back pain. Internal consistency, construct validity, content validity and criterion validity were evaluated for the scale. The inter-rater reliability was evaluated by 2 different observers a day apart from each other and the intra-rater reliability was determined by the same observer, 7 days apart. A sensitivity-to-change analysis was performed on 81 patients.

RESULTS: Of the sample, 67.6% were women, with a mean (SD) age of 44.88 (16.38) years. Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.86. Inter-rater reliability yielded an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.94 whereas intrarater reliability yielded an ICC of 0.95. Pearson correlation between ODI and each of the 8 domains of SF-36, was statistically significant. Construct validity, when comparing extremely acute and chronic groups, did not show any differences (P = 0.409). Concurrent criterion validity between ODI and Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMQ) was r = 0.75; between ODI and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was r = 0.540. For patients who received an intervention, the value of this change was 1.2.

CONCLUSION: ODI-C is a helpful, reliable and valid tool in Colombia for back pain patient follow-up and assessment, regardless the stage of the evolution. It is an observational study to validate the Oswestry disability index (ODI) in the Spanish language. ODI is the most used tool in evaluating disability related to low back pain. The psychometric properties were evaluated in Colombia and the results were very good, similar to other studies.