Patient-reported Outcome Measures in Pediatric Orthopaedics

Implementing patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) related to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) enhances how patients perceive their quality of care, boosts patient involvement and autonomy, and helps clinicians identify aspects of the patient's condition that might otherwise be missed. However, PROMs are underutilized in pediatric orthopaedic clinical practice, with many conditions lacking validated PROM tools. In this review, we summarize the use of PROMs in pediatric orthopaedics. We provide an overview of the definitions related to different aspects of PROMs, what makes a high-quality PROM, and how to select one or more PROMs for general or specific pediatric orthopaedic patients. The goal of this primer is to serve as a resource for clinicians interested in implementing appropriate PROMs in their pediatric orthopaedic practice.

(1)Health-related quality of life is the primary outcome that patient-reported outcome measures aim to quantify.(2)Validity is a critical concept in assessing the quality of PROMs, particularly content, construct, and criterion validity.(3)Generic PROMs can be applied to anyone, while condition-specific PROMs target the details most important to a specific population.(4)PROMs are significantly underutilized in pediatric orthopaedics, with a paucity of high-quality, condition-specific PROMs in the specialty.(5)PROM development, selection, and assessment should be aided by using available tools and protocols.