Health related quality of life of children with flexible flatfoot

Abstract

Introduction Pediatric flexible flatfoot usually is described as a foot posture with deficiency or insufficiency of the longitudinal arch in the midfoot. The debate between treatment and observation of asymptomatic flexible flat feet is still on top. Aims and Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the child and parent perceptions of health-related quality of life associated with flexible flatfeet. Materials and methods In the study 176 boys and 175 girls were enrolled in the study with pediatric flexible flatfeet and normal feet between the pre-school and school age completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQLTM 4.0). Proxy questionnaires were also completed. Objective parameters were also included and compared with life quality. Results Parents' assessment of the quality of life of children with asymptomatic mobile flatfoot is more higher than children. Reliability between patient and proxy questionnaires was assessed using the absolute agreement intraclass correlation coefficient and comparing mean absolute differences with a paired two-tailed t test as per recommendations. Questionnaire domain scores were compared between subject groups using an unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test. Pearson’s R was used to assess the correlation between PedsQLTM 4.0 domain scores. Alpha was set at 0.05 to define significance. Conclusions This suggests that a non-symptomatic mobile flatfoot is not always a reflection of a normal foot and that the child's health-related quality of life complaints should be considered more closely in the identification and development of a treatment.