Translation of the strength, assistance in walking, rising from a chair, climbing stairs, and falls questionnaire into Hindi.

Abstract

Background: Sarcopenia is common among cancer patients and is associated with adverse clinical outcomes. The strength, assistance in walking, rising from a chair, climbing stairs, and falls (SARC-F) questionnaire is a simple screening tool for evaluating sarcopenia; however, no validated Hindi version is currently available for use in Indian oncology practice.

Aim: To translate and culturally adapt the SARC-F questionnaire into Hindi and assess its reliability and content validity.

Methods: This single-center cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary cancer center in India. The questionnaire was translated using forward-backward translation following World Health Organization and International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research guidelines. Pilot testing assessed clarity and cultural relevance. Adult Hindi-speaking cancer patients completed the finalized questionnaire. Reliability and content validity were evaluated using Cronbach's alpha and content validity indices, and descriptive statistics with Pearson correlation analyses were performed.

Results: A total of 100 patients were included (mean age 50.9 ± 12.6 years; 63% female). The Hindi SARC-F demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.70). Content validity was excellent, with a scale-level content validity index of 0.92 and item-level indices ranging from 0.80 to 1.00. The median SARC-F score was 1 (interquartile range 0-3). No statistically significant correlations were observed between SARC-F scores and age, performance status, or body composition parameters (all P > 0.05).

Conclusion: The Hindi SARC-F is linguistically valid, culturally appropriate, and suitable for functional sarcopenia screening in Hindi-speaking cancer patients.