Translation and validation of the reduced Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) in Hindi speaking Indian patient with osteoarthritis of knee

The reduced WOMAC osteoarthritis index is a tested questionnaire to assess symptoms and physical functional disability in patients with OA of the knee and the hip. We adapted the rWOMAC for the Hindi language and tested its metric properties in 150 patients with symptomatic OA of the Knee.

Hindi translation was obtained with the use of forward and backward translation method. Adaptations were made after a pilot study. The rWOMAC was administered twice in a 2448hr interval, demographic and other characteristics were also evaluated. Internal consistency was assessed using cronbach's alpha, test- retest reliability using intra-class correlation coefficient and relationships between r WOMAC domains and known determinants of function using spearman's correlations.

The r WOMAC showed good internal consistency (alpha = 0.8) and good reliability, with intra-class correlation of 0.9. The index has convergent validity with VAS of pain and divergent validity with range of motion of knee.

The Hindi version of reduced WOMAC is a reliable and valid instrument for evaluating the severity of OA of the Knee, with metric properties in agreement with the original, widely used version.