Cultural adaptation and validation of the Persian version of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales 2-Short Form in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee

Purpose. To translate and validate the Persian version of the Arthritis Measurement Scales 2-Short Form (AIMS2-SF) in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Method. The translation and cultural adaptation of the original questionnaire was carried out in accordance with published guidelines. One hundred and fourteen consecutive Persian-speaking patients with OA of the knee were participated in this study. The Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and visual analogue scales (VAS) for pain and joint stiffness were used to test convergent validity of the Persian AIMS2-SF. In addition, 35 randomly selected patients were asked to complete the questionnaire 3 days later for the second time. Results. The Persian AIMS2-SF showed statistically significant good convergent validity, as assessed with the relevant subscales of the Persian SF-36 and VAS for pain and joint stiffness. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the Persian AIMS2-SF components ranged from 0.68 to 0.80. The Persian AIMS2-SF components showed good to excellent test-retest reliability with intraclass correlation coefficient ranged from 0.72 to 0.83 (p < 0.01). Conclusions. The Persian version of the AIMS2-SF is a reliable and valid instrument to measure functional disability and health-related quality of life in patients with OA of the knee in Iran. It is simple and easy to use and now can be applied in clinical settings and future outcome studies in Iran.This research has been supported by Sport Medicine Research Center (SMRC), Tehran University of Medical Sciences; grant no 85-0153-3579. We would like to thank the physicians for enrolling patients into the study: We also thank the patients who gave up their time to complete the questionnaires