French translation and validation of the C- and D-PPAC PROactive questionnaires to measure physical activity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: The recently developed PROactive physical activity in COPD (PPAC) instruments are suitable tools for subjective and objective measure of physical activity (PA). Our aim was to translate and evaluate the PPAC instruments in a french population. Methods: The translation procedure for the daily and clinical visit PPAC (D- and C-PPAC respectively) was conducted following the guidelines for the cross-cultural adaptation process. After reaching a consensus on any discrepancies at each stage by an expert committee, a pre-final version was produced. This version was tested among COPD patients from different centers. The adapted version was tested for reliability in a french COPD population. Results: 103 COPD patients from 18 different departments in France were included in this study. The french C-PPAC showed a good internal consistency with a Cronbach’s α > 0.90. The questions were found to be comprehensible with an average score of 4.7/5 on a Likert-scale. The difficulty score obtained in our study was similar to the one obtained by the PROactive consortium: 27 (21-31.5) vs 28 (22-34) [median (P25-P75)] respectively. The amount score 4 (3-5) was obtained without accelerometer data. The questionnaire also produced a good reliability (ICC ≥ 0.85). Conclusion: The french versions of C and D-PPAC are well accepted by the patients. We encourage the use of these tools, notably during pulmonary rehabilitation. The value and sensitivity of the PPAC scores from the french version still need to be investigated in the follow up of COPD patients.