PROMIS-9 UE physical function demonstrates moderate responsiveness for patients following upper limb prosthesis...

Upper extremity physical function is an essential health domain in the rehabilitation care for patients with upper limb amputation or absence. The PROMIS-9 UE Physical Function short form is a recently established instrument designed for individuals with upper limb amputation or absence. The instrument's responsiveness to changes after receiving a prosthesis has not been investigated. The current study aimed to evaluate the ability of the PROMIS-9 UE to detect changes in bimanual (two-handed) functional capacity after patients' receipt of a prosthesis.

A retrospective chart review was conducted on the longitudinal PROMIS-9 UE outcome measure scores completed between April 2016 and February 2024. Participants included individuals with an outcome collected before and after prosthesis receipt.

The final sample size included 124 individuals (91 male, 33 female; 43.4 ± 15.0 years old, 34.4 ± 103.0 months since amputation, and 62.9% injury etiology). Analyses found significant improvement across all patients in the PROMIS-9 UE scores from baseline to post prosthesis intervention (baseline: 25.3 ± 8.6, post: 29.5 ± 9.6; p < 0.001). The PROMIS-9 UE demonstrated a moderate responsiveness (Standardized Response Mean = 0.6) to prosthetic intervention. This was a directional change consistent with subjective patient reports of increased functionality. Furthermore, findings from the linear mixed model demonstrated significant responsiveness for the PROMIS-9 UE instrument to detect post-intervention changes after controlling for potential confounding effects (p < 0.001).

These findings suggest the PROMIS-9 UE Physical Function instrument demonstrates moderate clinical utility in capturing patient progress following upper limb prosthesis intervention.