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Published on: September 7, 2022
PROMIS for Orthopaedic Outcomes Measurement
Dane Jensen Brodke1, Charles L Saltzman, Darrel Scott Brodke
1From the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA (Mr. Brodke), and the Department of Orthopaedics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (Dr. Saltzman and Dr. Brodke).
Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) offers superior physical function assessment in orthopaedics. PROMIS improves measurement accuracy and reduces patient burden compared to older methods.
Area of Science:
- Orthopaedic research
- Health outcomes measurement
- Biostatistics
Background:
- Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are vital for assessing health status.
- Traditional orthopaedic PROMs often have limited scope and high administrative burden.
- Existing measures may not be suitable for diverse patient populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) as an advancement over traditional PROMs.
- To highlight PROMIS's development using item response theory for efficient health trait estimation.
- To evaluate the utility of PROMIS Physical Function measures in orthopaedic populations.
Main Methods:
- Development of PROMIS using item response theory (IRT).
- Creation of targeted item banks for assessing upper and lower extremity physical function.
- Validation of PROMIS in patient cohorts with foot and ankle, upper extremity, and spine disorders.
Main Results:
- PROMIS demonstrated improved measurement characteristics compared to legacy measures.
- PROMIS significantly reduced both patient and administrative burden.
- Validated effectiveness in diverse orthopaedic patient groups.
Conclusions:
- PROMIS Physical Function measures are effective tools for assessing orthopaedic outcomes.
- PROMIS offers superior measurement properties and efficiency in key orthopaedic populations.
- PROMIS represents a significant advancement in patient-reported outcome measurement for orthopaedics.

