Quality of life in children with fat feet (planovalgus foot, longitudinal platypodia)

Objective: to evaluate the quality of life in children with fat feet using standard quality of life questionnaire technique. Material and Methods. 97 children with fat feet (mean age 9.7±1.2 y. o.) and 32 children with neutral position of the feet (control group) participated in the research. Both the fat foot and neutral position of the foot diagnoses were based on patients» clinical examination and instrumental methods of diagnosis. The questionnaire survey was conducted using the Oxford Ankle Foot Questionnaire (OAFQ) for children (7-17 y. o.) designed for evaluation of potential cost for treatment of children with foot and ankle joint pathologies. It is made up of 15 questions showing the quality of life (physical development, school life and exercise, emotional development) as well as problems with shoes selection. General central module of the Kiddy-KINDL Questionnaire covers various aspects of children»s life providing a fexible modular psychologically applicable method. The structure of the questionnaire scales consists of 24 questions united in evaluation groups. Results. In the group of fatfoot children the quality of life is reliably lower in terms of physical development and shoes selection. Flat feel has almost no impact on children»s emotional development as well as their social function; it doesn»t usually lead to fxation on disfguration. Conclusion. To evaluate every individual clinical case of decline in physical development quality and worsening of the emotional state in pediatric patients trauma orthopedists are recommended to employ various questionnaires that allow for detailed defning of lesions degree and quality for individual selection of the treatment method.