The Hebrew version of the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) and the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ).

We report herein the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation into the Hebrew language of the parent's version of two health related quality of life instruments. The Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) is a disease specific health instrument that measures functional ability in daily living activities in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) is a generic health instrument designed to capture the physical and psychosocial well-being of children independently from the underlying disease. The Hebrew CHAQ-CHQ were fully developed with 3 forward and 3 backward translations. A total of 144 subjects were enrolled: 80 patients with JIA (12% systemic onset, 34% polyarticular onset, 23% extended oligoarticular subtype, and 31% persistent oligoarticular subtype) and 64 healthy children. The CHAQ clinically discriminated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the systemic, polyarticular and extended oligoarticular subtypes having a higher degree of disability, pain, and a lower overall well-being when compared to their healthy peers. Also the CHQ clinically discriminated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the JIA patients having a lower physical and psychosocial well-being when compared to their healthy peers. In conclusion the Hebrew version of the CHAQ-CHQ is a reliable, and valid tool for the functional, physical and psychosocial assessment of children with JIA.

Acute rheumatic fever associated with Henoch-Schönlein purpura: report of three cases and review of the literature.

AIM: To describe a possible relationship between Henoch-Schönlein purpura and rheumatic fever. METHODS: Patients with features of both diseases were identified by reviewing the hospital records. Medline and reference lists from published articles were used to search for previous reports of the two conditions occuring simultaneously. RESULTS: Three newly described cases, and three previous reports of Henoch-Schönlein purpura associated with rheumatic carditis or chorea were identified. CONCLUSIONS: The coexistence of these two disorders in some patients supports the view that Group A streptococcus may have a pathogenic role in Henoch-Schönlein purpura.