A comparison of the Lysholm and Cincinnati knee scoring questionnaires

In a prospective study, we compared the Lysholm and Cincinnati symptom scoring questionnaires for knee ligament injuries in a group of 41 patients with documented unilateral anterior cruciate deficiency. The patients scored consistently higher on the Lysholm scale than on the Cincinnati for each patient. A linear regression analysis produced the relationship of Lysholm = 30 +/- 0.72 Cincinnati. This illustrates the difficulty of comparing the results from different operative procedures, but offers an approximate "rate of exchange" for these two commonly used symptom questionnaires.