Functional outcome in pediatric hydrocephalus: results of applying the Spanish version of the Hydrocephalus Outcome Questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE The aims of the study were to assess whether the Spanish version of the Hydrocephalus Outcome Questionnaire (HOQ) could be useful for the evaluation and comparison of outcomes in the patients in the authors' region with those in patients in other institutions and to analyze predictors of functional outcome in patients with a shunt. METHODS The authors performed this cross-sectional study between March 2015 and April 2016. All the parents of a pediatric patient with hydrocephalus who attended the Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga neurosurgery outpatient clinic were invited to enroll in the study and complete the HOQ-Spanish version. Age at diagnosis and at the time of the study, clinical data, shunt complications, and socioeconomic factors were also recorded. A descriptive analysis was performed, and independent variables related to the HOQ scores were studied. RESULTS A total of 132 patients participated in the study (100% participation rate). The mean ages were 16.74 months (range 0-142 months) at diagnosis and 10.45 years (range 5-16 years) at the time of the study. The mean overall HOQ score was 0.68 (on a scale from 0 [worse] to 1.0 [best]). Factors related to a worse quality of life were seizures, motor or visual impairment, shunt infection, need for shunt revision, need for more than 2 shunt revisions (range 0-8 revisions), symptomatic overdrainage, and older age at the time of the study. CONCLUSIONS The HOQ-Spanish version is useful in the authors' region; the dimension scores found in this study were comparable to those previously reported by referral centers. Future goals should be to prevent shunt complications, routinely get children to reach functional status, and refer patients for adjuvant therapy promptly.