Are hallux valgus and big toe pain associated with impaired quality of life? A cross-sectional study.

Hallux valgus (HV) is common with a standardised prevalence of 28.4% in adults older than 40 years. It has been shown to associate with impaired quality of life (QOL) in small hospital based studies. Previous studies of association between HV, function and disability are based on the presence or absence of regional foot pain which may be due to other foot pathology and is not specific to HV. The objective of this study is to examine the association between self reported HV, big toe pain and impaired QOL in a primary care population. We hypothesise that presence of self-reported HV alone, big toe pain alone and both together will associate with progressively impaired QOL. This hypothesis is based on the known association of concurrent HV and foot pain with impaired physical function and the fact that foot pain and not foot deformity impairs functional status. Our study shows that concurrent HV and big toe pain but not isolated HV associates with impaired overall satisfaction with health and low score on the physical, psychological and social domains of World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). Copyright 2010 Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.