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Published on: March 1, 2024
Minimal important change for the visual analogue scale foot and ankle (VAS-FA)
Antti J Saarinen1, Mikko M Uimonen2, Henrik Sandelin3
1Department of Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
Background:
Visual analogue scale foot and ankle (VAS-FA) is a patient-reported outcome measure for foot and ankle disorders. The VAS-FA is validated into several languages and well adopted into use. Nonetheless, minimal important change (MIC) for the VAS-FA has not been estimated thus far.
Methods:
The VAS-FA score was obtained from 106 patients undergoing surgery for various foot and ankle complaints. MIC was estimated using an anchor-based predictive method.
Results:
The adjusted MIC was 6.8 for total VAS-FA score, and 9.3 for the Pain, 5.8 for the Function, and 5.7 for the Other complaints subscales. The VAS-FA score was found to separate improvement and deterioration in patients' foot and ankle condition.
Conclusions:
MIC was successfully defined for the VAS-FA in the current study. The VAS-FA can be used to evaluate foot and ankle patients' clinical foot and ankle status and its change. Further research on estimating disease-specific MICs is recommended.
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