Surgical Outcomes Through the Patient's Eyes: A Scoping Review of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Surgery

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) have gained significant recognition for their crucial role in evaluating patient-centered outcomes in surgical interventions. This scoping review aims to assess the use of PROMs across various specialties and identify trends in PROM implementation.

A literature search was conducted using PubMed databases, including studies published between January 2010 and August 2024. Data on the surgical field, the number and types of PROMs used, and the outcome domains explored were extracted. The findings were synthesized using descriptive analysis.

From an initial pool of 1089 articles, this review included 275 papers, comprising 72 clinical trials and 203 observational studies. Orthopedic surgery emerged as the most frequent field utilizing PROMs, accounting for 100 (36.4%) studies. Meanwhile, other less commonly represented specialties such as general surgery accounted for 6.6% (n = 18). While vascular surgery, urology, and ear, nose, and throat were each underrepresented at 2.2% (n = 6). Notably, 112 (40.7%) studies focused on a single PROM, with the Visual Analog Scale being the most commonly utilized tool (n = 36, 13.0%). This was followed by the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (n = 31, 11.2%), Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (n = 24, 8.7%), and EuroQol-5 Dimension (n = 24, 8.7%).

The application of PROMs in surgical research is expanding, particularly in orthopedic surgery, while specialties such as vascular, urology, and ear, nose, and throat remain underrepresented. While the majority of studies continue to focus on single outcomes, there is a growing interest in multidimensional evaluations, suggesting a future direction for more comprehensive patient-centered assessments.