Validation of a comorbidity questionnaire in patients with neurological disorders

RATIONAL: Several tools exist to assess comorbidities in neurological disorders, the most widely used being the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), but it has several limitations.

The Comorbidity and General Health Questionnaire (CGHQ) is a newly designed tool, which includes additional comorbidities associated with health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) and outcomes in neurological disorders.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To assess the feasibility and validity of the CGHQ in patients with neurological disease.

METHOD: Two hundred patients attending a general neurological clinic were invited to complete the CGHQ along with the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire.

The CCI was simultaneously completed by the assessor.

CGHQ comorbidity scores were compared with CCI, symptom burden and EQ-5D-5L scores.

RESULTS: The CGHQ captured 22 additional comorbidities not included on the CCI and more comorbidities were endorsed on the CGHQ.

The CGHQ correlated weakly to moderately with CCI comorbidity scores.

While both the CGHQ and CCI correlated negatively with the EQ-5D-5L Visual Analogue Scale, only the CGHQ correlated negatively with the EQ-5D-5L summary index.

The CGHQ but not the CCI correlated strongly and positively with symptom burden scores.

CONCLUSION: The CGHQ allows a more comprehensive assessment of comorbidities than the CCI and better correlates with patients’ overall symptom burden and HR-QOL in neurological patients.