Validity Study of Catalan, Galician and Basque Language Versions of the COPD Assessment Test and Equivalence With the Spanish Version

Objectives: To assess the linguistic equivalence of the COPD Assessment Test versions in Catalan (CAT-C), Galician (CAT-G) and Basque (CAT-V) with the validated Spanish version (CAT) in COPD patients able to use both official languages.

Methods: Study performed in primary care centers in Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country. Half of the patients completed the questionnaire in their local language followed by the CAT in Spanish, while the other half did so in reverse order.

Results: 151 COPD patients were included in the study, with a mean age of 69.0 (SD: 9.7) years. Most (79.5%) were men, 11.3% were educated up touniversity level, and 31.8% were current smokers. Mean FEV1 was 61.4% (SD: 16.8) predicted and 83.9% of patients were GOLD grade i or ii. Concordance between CAT-C, CAT-G and CAT-V and CAT was high, with differences between scores from 0.4 to-0.5. Reliability (Cronbach's alpha) ranged from0.72 to0.86. Convergent validity, when correlated with the Medical Research Council Dyspnea scale (P=.003) and Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire (ICC, r=0.74) scores, was significant.

Conclusions: CAT-C, CAT-G and CAT-V scores were similar to CAT scores, with high correlation and concordance. These results show the equivalence between the validated Spanish CAT and the versionin other languages, so CAT-C, CAT-G and CAT-V can be used in individuals whose main language is Catalan, Galician or Basque.