Health related quality of life of children with calcaneal apophysitis: child & parent perceptions.

BACKGROUND: Children with a clinical diagnosis of calcaneal apophysitis reportedly experience impaired physical ability. Patient reported outcome assessments measure the level of conditional specific interference in everyday life. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the child and parent perceptions of health related quality of life (QOL) associated with calcaneal apophysitis.

METHODS: This is a longitudinal repeated measure study nested within a randomized comparative effectiveness trial. Children who had symptoms of calcaneal apophysitis were recruited from local advertising and from the caseload of podiatrists within the health setting (Australia). The Oxford Ankle Foot Questionnaire for Children (OxAFQ-C) was completed at baseline, 1, 2, 6 and 12 month time points by both child and parent.

RESULTS: A total of 133 children were recruited and 124 participated in the study with 101 completing the OxAFQ-C at all five time points. The inter-rater reliability between the child and parent for the physical domain ranged between poor (0.06) to good (0.77) agreement, and the footwear domain ranged between poor (0.09) to good (0.66) across the time points. Both the school and emotional domains had moderate (0.46) to good (0.77) agreement.

CONCLUSION: Children with calcaneal apophysitis have differing perceptions of health related QOL impact compared to their parents. Parents initially reported greater impact than their child however there was convergence of agreement over the follow-up period. These findings suggest understanding the impact from both child and parent perspective is imperative during treatment.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12609000696291.