Cross cultural adaptation and validation of an Arabic version of selected PROMIS measures for use in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Abstract Aim of the work To cross culturally adapt and validate an Arabic version of selected patient reported outcome information system (PROMIS) measures for use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Patients and Methods One-hundred RA patients were recruited. They were asked to complete a validated Arabic health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), visual analogue scale (VAS) of patient global assessment (PGA) and the translated Arabic version of selected PROMIS measures for use in RA. The items of PROMIS were translated and cross culturally adapted using general guidelines. A pretest sample of twenty RA patients was used for cognitive evaluation of translated version and estimation of internal consistency reliability with cronbachs-alpha. Convergent validity was assessed. Disease activity score-28 (DAS28) and clinical disease activity index (CDAI) were considered. Results : Patients were mostly females (94%) with a mean age of 41.5 ± 11.1 years and disease duration 6.3 ± 7.3 years. The level of education varied and extra-articular manifestations were present in 12%, rheumatoid factor was positive in 72%, the mean tender (8 ± 3.3) and swollen (5 ± 2.1) joint counts, the PGA was 6.7 ± 1.8, HAQ was 1.4 ± 0.7, the DAS28 was 5.4 ± 1.3 (2.7–8.5) while the CDAI was 27.1 ± 12.6 (5–64). The translated Arabic PROMIS showed good internal consistency and reliability (Cronbach's-α 0.7–0.9). There was a significant correlation between different domains of PROMIS (p  Conclusion These data provide preliminary evidence of reliability and construct validity of the Arabic translated selected PROMIS measures for use in RA patients.