PNS53 Population Normative DATA for the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability INDEX in Hungary

Abstract

The Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) was developed to measure physical functioning. The aim of this study was to assess the physical functional status of the adult population with the HAQ-DI questionnaire and to establish population norms in Hungary. A cross-sectional computer-assisted personal interview survey was conducted in Hungary (year 2019), involving a sample of the adults (18+) representative for the general population. Demographic characteristics, physical functional status HAQ-DI, health status (EQ-5D-3L, EQ-5D-5L) and well-being (ICECAP-A in age group 18-64, ICECAP-O in age group 65+) were measured. Descriptive statistical analyzes were performed, differences between subgroups were examined by ANOVA test, and Pearson correlations between variables were performed. The research was supported by the Higher Education Institutional Excellence Program, within the framework of the ‘Financial and Retail Services' thematic program of the Corvinus University of Budapest. The average (SD) age of the participants (N=2,021; female 50.1%) was 48.7 (17.9) years and the HAQ-DI score was 0.138 (0.390). Altogether 19.6% of the respondents reported any problem on the HAQ-DI, the most problems were found in the ‘Activities’ domain (13.6%), the least in the ‘Eating’ (5.6%) and ‘Grip’ (5.8%) domains. HAQ-DI index score was significantly (p=0.000) higher in subgroups with older age, lower educational and income level, as well as among participants who were unemployed, living alone and in worse health status. Correlations were significant and moderate between HAQ-DI index and age (r=0.417), EQ VAS (r=-0.496), WHO-5 (r=-0.420), ICECAP-A (r=-0.351) and ICECAP-O (r=-0.509) and strong between the HAQ-DI and the EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L index scores (r=-0.685 and -0.747, respectively). On-fifth of the Hungarian adult general population reports limitation(s) in physical functioning. These limitations increase with age but not in a linear manner. Our HAQ-DI results can be used as reference scores in future clinical and epidemiological studies.