Arabic translation and validation of a pediatric sleep questionnaire to assess the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing among Saudi pre-school children

OBJECTIVES: (1) To translate to Arabic a validated pediatric sleep questionnaire, (2) To assess the validity and reliability of the translated questionnaire, and (3) To assess the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) among a group of pre-school children in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: Using forward and back-translation, a set of 6 hierarchically arranged questions that comprise the Gozal sleep questionnaire was translated into Arabic. Validity was assessed using face validity and content validity for consistency and clarity, using both item-level and scale-level content validity indices (I-CVI, S-CVI). Consent forms were sent to 1783 mothers recruited from 8 different pre-schools in Jeddah between October 2017 and April 2018, and 209 signed and returned the consent forms. Out of this sample, 34 mothers were contacted to assess internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha, and test-retest reliability using Interclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Finally, all 209 mothers were contacted to answer the questionnaire to obtain the prevalence of SDB. RESULTS: Using face validity and content validity, the translated questionnaire proved to be valid with perfect I-CVI and S-CVI. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha 0.64–0.89) and test-retest reliability (ICC=0.87, p<0.001) showed the translated questionnaire to have good to favorable reliability. Depending on the severity of SDB, the prevalence of SDB was 7.7%, 5.7%, and 3.8% for mild, moderate and severe cut-off values respectively. CONCLUSION: A validated pediatric sleep questionnaire to assess SDB was translated into Arabic and the translation proved to be valid and reliable. The prevalence of SDB was found to be very comparable to other areas in the world.