The Equivalence of Remote Electronic and Paper Patient Reported Outcome (PRO) Collection.

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Health Informatics
• Clinical Outcomes Measurement

Background:

• Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) are crucial for monitoring patient health status.
• Web-based PRO collection offers remote data capture, enhancing clinical practice efficiency.
• Validating digital PRO tools against traditional methods is essential for adoption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the equivalence of a web-based electronic PRO (ePRO) system compared to paper-based PRO collection.
• To evaluate the reliability of remote ePRO data for hip surgery patients.

Main Methods:

• A randomized crossover study involving 47 hip surgery patients.
• Patients were assigned to two groups, alternating between web-based and paper PRO data collection.
• Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) were calculated to determine score agreement.

Main Results:

• The Oxford Hip Score demonstrated an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) of 0.99.
• Other PRO scores (McCarthy, UCLA, howRu) showed ICCs ranging from 0.95 to 0.97.
• High ICC values indicate excellent agreement between web-based and paper PRO collection methods.

Conclusions:

• Remote ePRO collection via the studied web-based system is equivalent to paper-based PRO collection.
• This digital system provides a reliable method for collecting patient outcomes in hip surgery.
• Web-based ePROs can be confidently used as a substitute for paper-based assessments.