Background
Psoriasis has a significant negative impact on patients’ quality of life. Psoriasis
Disability Index (PDI) is a psoriasis-specific questionnaire that was developed by Finlay
and Coles, which concerns the functional lifestyle disabilities caused by psoriasis. It
has been used internationally for almost 20 years and has been translated into at least
26 languages.
Objective
The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Arabic
version of the PDI questionnaire for Egyptian psoriasis patients.
Patients and methods
One hundred adult Egyptian patients with chronic plaque-type psoriasis aged 16 years
or older with no other systemic disease were enrolled in this study. The patients were
examined to determine the clinical type of psoriasis and to measure the severity of
psoriasis by calculating Psoriasis Area Severity Index score. The impact of psoriasis on
quality of life was assessed using the Arabic version of the PDI after translation and
cultural adaptation according to WHO guidelines.
Results
The internal consistency for the 15 items of the Arabic version of the PDI questionnaire
was significant; intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.853 and Cronbach’s a
coefficient was 0.860, indicating reliability of the developed Arabic version.
Conclusion
The Arabic version of the PDI questionnaire was found to be a reliable and valid
measure for evaluating the quality of life for Egyptian patients with psoriasis.