Choosing patient-reported outcome measures for shoulder pathology

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Evidence-Based Practice

Background:

• Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are crucial for evaluating shoulder conditions.
• Identifying frequently used PROMs in high-quality literature is essential for standardization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify the most frequent shoulder PROMs in high-quality scientific literature.
• To inform the development of a core set of outcome measures for future shoulder studies.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review was conducted to identify shoulder PROMs.
• A subsequent search in MEDLINE assessed the diffusion of these PROMs.
• 506 studies involving 36,553 patients were analyzed.

Main Results:

• The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, American Shoulder, Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, and Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) were the most frequently reported PROMs.
• Disease-specific PROMs are increasingly utilized in shoulder research.
• A need for a standardized core set of PROMs was identified.

Conclusions:

• A combination of the DASH score with specific PROMs like ASES (for rotator cuff pathology, osteoarthritis) and SPADI (for shoulder stiffness, pain) is proposed.
• This recommended set aims to enhance outcome assessment in shoulder pathologies.
• Standardization of PROMs will improve comparability and generalizability of research findings.