How Comprehensive and Efficient Are Patient-Reported Outcomes for Rotator Cuff Tears?

Area of Science:

• Orthopaedic surgery
• Patient-reported outcomes research
• Quality assessment in healthcare

Background:

• Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are increasingly vital for assessing quality in orthopaedic procedures.
• Numerous PROs exist for rotator cuff tears, but their accuracy and utilization vary.
• Standardized assessment is needed to guide the selection of effective PROs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify the most comprehensive and efficient disease-specific patient-reported outcome (PRO) for patients undergoing rotator cuff repair.
• To evaluate commonly used rotator cuff PROs based on a novel assessment criterion.
• To hypothesize that shorter surveys can be as comprehensive as longer ones.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of commonly utilized rotator cuff PROs.
• Analysis of PROs based on the number of survey components, comprehensiveness, and efficiency.
• Comprehensiveness scored based on pain, function, and quality of life metrics (max 11); efficiency calculated as comprehensiveness divided by component count.

Main Results:

• Sixteen PROs were analyzed, with component counts ranging from 5 (UCLA) to 36 (SF-36, JOA).
• RC-QoL and Penn scores were most comprehensive (11 and 10, respectively); Marx score was least comprehensive (3).
• UCLA, QuickDASH, and Constant scores were most efficient; JOA and SF-36 were least efficient.

Conclusions:

• Many current PROs for rotator cuff tears lack comprehensiveness and efficiency.
• Continuous evaluation of PRO quality is essential for clinical practice.
• Practitioners should select PROs that balance comprehensiveness with efficient administration.