The standardized and mini versions of the PAQLQ are valid, reliable, and responsive measurement tools.

OBJECTIVE: The Paediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) is a validated tool developed to assess the impact of symptoms on quality of life. Here we assess the validity, reliability and responsiveness of two new simpler versions of this questionnaire: the Standardised PAQLQ and the MiniPAQLQ.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Participants included 42 children with asthma, who completed the PAQLQ, PAQLQ(S), MiniPAQLQ, Asthma Control Questionnaire, and Health Utilities Index at baseline, one, five and nine weeks. Concordance between questionnaires was examined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), bias by paired Student's t-tests and closeness of association by Pearson correlation coefficients.

RESULTS: Correlation coefficients for each of the corresponding domains of the PAQLQ with the PAQLQ(S) were strong (r>0.97), and moderate to strong (r=0.50-0.94) with the MiniPAQLQ. Reliability was strong for both the PAQLQ(S) (ICC>0.89) and MiniPAQLQ (ICC>0.91). The responsiveness index values for the PAQLQ(S) (0.96) and the MiniPAQLQ (1.05) were both higher than that of the original PAQLQ (0.90). Cross sectional and longitudinal correlation coefficients were similar for all three instruments.

CONCLUSION: The PAQLQ(S) and the MiniPAQLQ are valid, reliable and responsive to change. They can be used with confidence for long-term monitoring in clinical trials.