Purpose
To assess the preoperative and postoperative performance of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Upper Extremity (PROMIS-UE, version 2.0) outcome score in comparison to the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) and Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (WORC) instruments in patients undergoing rotator cuff repair.
Methods
This prospective longitudinal study included 91 patients undergoing rotator cuff repair. Patients completed the PROMIS-UE, ASES, and WORC instruments preoperatively and postoperatively at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 12 months. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between these tools was calculated at each time point. Correlations were graded as excellent (>0.7), excellent-good (0.61-0.7), good (0.4-0.6), or poor (<0.4). Responsiveness to change was assessed using the effect size and the standardized response mean. Floor and ceiling effects for each instrument were also assessed.
Results
The PROMIS-UE instrument showed good to excellent correlation with the legacy instruments at all time points. There were variations in the measured effect sizes of the various instruments, with the PROMIS-UE instrument showing responsiveness to change at 3 and 12 months but the ASES and WORC instruments showing responsiveness at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 12 months. Both PROMIS-UE and ASES scores displayed ceiling effects at 12 months.
Conclusions
The PROMIS-UE instrument shows excellent correlation with the ASES instrument and a rotator cuff–specific outcome instrument—the WORC instrument—preoperatively and at 1 year after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Variations in the measured effect sizes at different postoperative time points and high ceiling effects of the PROMIS-UE instrument at the 1-year time point may limit its utility in the early postoperative phase and at long-term follow-up after rotator cuff repair.
Clinical Relevance
The performance of the PROMIS-UE outcome measure after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair was investigated.
Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) have become an increasingly important tool in orthopaedic clinical practice and research. Because the main outcome measure in orthopaedics is quality of life, incorporation of patient input is an essential component in the evaluation of treatment outcomes.
1- Wylie J.D.
- Beckmann J.T.
- Granger E.
- Tashjian R.Z.
Functional outcomes assessment in shoulder surgery.
In addition to the use of PROMs as tools in clinical care delivery, their widespread adoption has enabled researchers to better compare treatments against one another and to perform cost-effectiveness analysis.
2- Brodke D.J.
- Saltzman C.L.
- Brodke D.S.
PROMIS for orthopaedic outcomes measurement.
However, such research is hampered by the large number of different PROMs currently in use, as well the variability in their individual effectiveness.
2- Brodke D.J.
- Saltzman C.L.
- Brodke D.S.
PROMIS for orthopaedic outcomes measurement.
,3- Makhni E.C.
- Meadows M.
- Hamamoto J.T.
- Higgins J.D.
- Romeo A.A.
- Verma N.N.
Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) in the upper extremity: The future of outcomes reporting?.
Within the field of shoulder and elbow surgery alone, there are more than a dozen commonly used PROMs, ranging from general shoulder assessments to disease-specific instruments.
1- Wylie J.D.
- Beckmann J.T.
- Granger E.
- Tashjian R.Z.
Functional outcomes assessment in shoulder surgery.
In an effort to create a more standardized approach to patient-centered outcome measurement, the National Institutes of Health has developed a set of tools known as the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). These tools measure patient health across 5 subdomains: Physical Function, Social Function, Pain, Fatigue, and Emotional Distress.
3- Makhni E.C.
- Meadows M.
- Hamamoto J.T.
- Higgins J.D.
- Romeo A.A.
- Verma N.N.
Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) in the upper extremity: The future of outcomes reporting?.
Through the use of computer adaptive testing, PROMIS instruments utilize a patient’s responses to adaptively select questions from a large item bank. Each subsequent question is selected based on the patient’s answer to the previous item and can vary from one patient to another. This adaptive ability allows PROMIS instruments to avoid redundancy in subsequent questions and deliver accurate outcome measurements while minimizing both response burden and troublesome floor and ceiling effects.
1- Wylie J.D.
- Beckmann J.T.
- Granger E.
- Tashjian R.Z.
Functional outcomes assessment in shoulder surgery.
The PROMIS Upper Extremity (PROMIS-UE) instrument (version 2.0), which was created from a subset of the questions in the Physical Function subdomain, is of particular importance to the field of shoulder and elbow surgery. Because many legacy PROMs used in shoulder and elbow surgery combine a variety of different domains of health measurement into one tool, their ability to precisely detect changes in patients’ physical function is diminished.
4- Hung M.
- Voss M.W.
- Bounsanga J.
- Crum A.B.
- Tyser A.R.
Examination of the PROMIS Upper Extremity item bank.
By focusing solely on upper-extremity physical function, the PROMIS-UE instrument can enable clinicians and researchers to more effectively measure outcomes and make treatment decisions. For this reason, there has been much research comparing the PROMIS-UE instrument with previously validated legacy instruments. Although a number of cross-sectional studies have shown that the PROMIS-UE instrument correlates well with legacy instruments,
5- Anthony C.A.
- Glass N.
- Hancock K.
- Bollier M.
- Hettrich C.M.
- Wolf B.R.
Preoperative performance of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System in patients with rotator cuff pathology.
, 6- Anthony C.A.
- Glass N.A.
- Hancock K.
- Bollier M.
- Wolf B.R.
- Hettrich C.M.
Performance of PROMIS instruments in patients with shoulder instability.
, 7- Döring A.C.
- Nota S.P.
- Hageman M.G.
- Ring D.C.
Measurement of upper extremity disability using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System.
, 8- Dowdle S.B.
- Glass N.
- Anthony C.A.
- Hettrich C.M.
Use of PROMIS for patients undergoing primary total shoulder arthroplasty.
, 9- Lavoie-Gagne O.
- Huddleston H.P.
- Fu M.C.
- et al.
PROMIS Upper Extremity underperforms psychometrically relative to American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score in patients undergoing primary rotator cuff repair.
, 10- Minoughan C.E.
- Schumaier A.P.
- Fritch J.L.
- Grawe B.M.
Correlation of Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System Physical Function Upper Extremity computer adaptive testing, with the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons shoulder assessment form and Simple Shoulder Test in patients with shoulder pain.
, 11- Minoughan C.E.
- Schumaier A.P.
- Fritch J.L.
- Grawe B.M.
Correlation of PROMIS Physical Function Upper Extremity computer adaptive test with American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons shoulder assessment form and Simple Shoulder Test in patients with shoulder arthritis.
, 12- Patterson B.M.
- Orvets N.D.
- Aleem A.W.
- et al.
Correlation of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scores with legacy patient-reported outcome scores in patients undergoing rotator cuff repair.
, 13- Phillips J.
- Freedman M.K.
- Simon J.I.
- Beredjiklian P.K.
The PROMIS Upper Extremity computer adaptive test correlates with previously validated metrics in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.
, 14- Phillips J.
- Warrender W.J.
- Lutsky K.F.
- Beredjiklian P.K.
Evaluation of the PROMIS Upper Extremity computer adaptive test against validated patient-reported outcomes in patients with basilar thumb arthritis.
, 15- Rojas E.O.
- Glass N.
- Owens J.
- et al.
Performance of the PROMIS in patients undergoing 3 common elbow procedures.
, 16- Kolade O.
- Ghosh N.
- Luthringer T.A.
- et al.
Correlation of Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) with American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeon (ASES), and Constant (CS) scores in idiopathic adhesive capsulitis.
, 17Sabharwal S, Skolasky RL, Souza JM, Potter BK, Forsberg JA. Concurrent validity of PROMIS with DASH and DVPRS in transhumeral amputees [published online January 26, 2022]. Hand (N Y). https://doi.org/10.1177/15589447211073833.
, 18- Kortlever J.T.P.
- Somogyi J.R.
- Ring D.
- Reichel L.M.
- Vagner G.A.
A comparison of nerve-specific, condition-specific, and upper extremity-specific patient-reported outcome measures in patients with carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome.
, 19- Lu Y.
- Agarwalla A.
- Patel B.H.
- et al.
Relationship between the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) computer adaptive testing and legacy instruments in patients undergoing isolated biceps tenodesis.
, 20- Shetty P.N.
- Hawken J.
- Sanghavi K.K.
- Giladi A.M.
Correlation of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System questionnaires with the Brief Michigan Hand Questionnaire in patients with 5 common hand conditions.
, 21- Vadhera A.S.
- Beletsky A.
- Singh H.
- Chahla J.
- Cole B.J.
- Verma N.N.
Preoperative psychometric properties of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Upper Extremity, Pain Interference, and Depression in Bankart repair and rotator cuff repair.
, 22- Garcia-Lopez E.
- Moore D.C.
- Kenney D.E.
- Ladd A.L.
- Weiss A.C.
- Crisco J.J.
Evaluation of the PROMIS Upper Extremity against validated patient-reported outcomes in patients with early carpometacarpal osteoarthritis.
there are few longitudinal studies that have shown the validity of the PROMIS-UE instrument for specific orthopaedic patient populations.
16- Kolade O.
- Ghosh N.
- Luthringer T.A.
- et al.
Correlation of Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) with American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeon (ASES), and Constant (CS) scores in idiopathic adhesive capsulitis.
,22- Garcia-Lopez E.
- Moore D.C.
- Kenney D.E.
- Ladd A.L.
- Weiss A.C.
- Crisco J.J.
Evaluation of the PROMIS Upper Extremity against validated patient-reported outcomes in patients with early carpometacarpal osteoarthritis.
, 23- Broughton J.S.
- Goldfarb C.A.
- Obey M.R.
- Smith M.V.
Performance of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scores compared with legacy metrics in evaluating outcomes after surgical treatment for osteochondritis dissecans of the humeral capitellum.
, 24- Pines Y.
- Gordon D.
- Alben M.
- Kwon Y.W.
- Zuckerman J.D.
- Virk M.S.
Performance and responsiveness to change of PROMIS UE in patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty.
, 25- Hajewski C.J.
- Glass N.A.
- Westermann R.W.
- Bollier M.
- Wolf B.R.
- Hettrich C.
Performance of the PROMIS after operative interventions for shoulder instability.
, 26- Jayakumar P.
- Teunis T.
- Vranceanu A.-M.
- et al.
Construct validity and precision of different patient-reported outcome measures during recovery after upper extremity fractures.
, 27- Kaat A.J.
- Rothrock N.E.
- Vrahas M.S.
- et al.
Longitudinal validation of the PROMIS Physical Function item bank in upper extremity trauma.
The goal of this prospective longitudinal study was to assess the preoperative and postoperative performance of the PROMIS-UE outcome score in comparison to the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) and Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (WORC) instruments in patients undergoing rotator cuff repair (RCR). We hypothesized that the PROMIS-UE instrument would correlate well with these legacy instruments in patients undergoing RCR and that it would be able to precisely capture changes in patient function while reducing response burden, avoiding any floor or ceiling effects.
Discussion
Our longitudinal study results show that the PROMIS-UE instrument has an excellent-good to excellent correlation with the ASES and WORC instruments both preoperatively and postoperatively while reducing patient response burden. These results are in line with the findings of cross-sectional studies comparing the PROMIS-UE instrument with legacy instruments in patients with rotator cuff pathology,
5- Anthony C.A.
- Glass N.
- Hancock K.
- Bollier M.
- Hettrich C.M.
- Wolf B.R.
Preoperative performance of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System in patients with rotator cuff pathology.
,9- Lavoie-Gagne O.
- Huddleston H.P.
- Fu M.C.
- et al.
PROMIS Upper Extremity underperforms psychometrically relative to American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score in patients undergoing primary rotator cuff repair.
,12- Patterson B.M.
- Orvets N.D.
- Aleem A.W.
- et al.
Correlation of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scores with legacy patient-reported outcome scores in patients undergoing rotator cuff repair.
,21- Vadhera A.S.
- Beletsky A.
- Singh H.
- Chahla J.
- Cole B.J.
- Verma N.N.
Preoperative psychometric properties of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Upper Extremity, Pain Interference, and Depression in Bankart repair and rotator cuff repair.
basilar thumb arthritis,
14- Phillips J.
- Warrender W.J.
- Lutsky K.F.
- Beredjiklian P.K.
Evaluation of the PROMIS Upper Extremity computer adaptive test against validated patient-reported outcomes in patients with basilar thumb arthritis.
carpal tunnel is repeated later on with cubital tunnel syndrome, our apologies for writing such twice. shoulder pain,
10- Minoughan C.E.
- Schumaier A.P.
- Fritch J.L.
- Grawe B.M.
Correlation of Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System Physical Function Upper Extremity computer adaptive testing, with the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons shoulder assessment form and Simple Shoulder Test in patients with shoulder pain.
adhesive capsulitis,
16- Kolade O.
- Ghosh N.
- Luthringer T.A.
- et al.
Correlation of Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) with American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeon (ASES), and Constant (CS) scores in idiopathic adhesive capsulitis.
shoulder instability,
6- Anthony C.A.
- Glass N.A.
- Hancock K.
- Bollier M.
- Wolf B.R.
- Hettrich C.M.
Performance of PROMIS instruments in patients with shoulder instability.
patients undergoing biceps tenodesis
19- Lu Y.
- Agarwalla A.
- Patel B.H.
- et al.
Relationship between the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) computer adaptive testing and legacy instruments in patients undergoing isolated biceps tenodesis.
or transhumeral amputation,
17Sabharwal S, Skolasky RL, Souza JM, Potter BK, Forsberg JA. Concurrent validity of PROMIS with DASH and DVPRS in transhumeral amputees [published online January 26, 2022]. Hand (N Y). https://doi.org/10.1177/15589447211073833.
common elbow conditions requiring surgery,
15- Rojas E.O.
- Glass N.
- Owens J.
- et al.
Performance of the PROMIS in patients undergoing 3 common elbow procedures.
and patients with carpal or cubital tunnel syndrome
13- Phillips J.
- Freedman M.K.
- Simon J.I.
- Beredjiklian P.K.
The PROMIS Upper Extremity computer adaptive test correlates with previously validated metrics in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.
,18- Kortlever J.T.P.
- Somogyi J.R.
- Ring D.
- Reichel L.M.
- Vagner G.A.
A comparison of nerve-specific, condition-specific, and upper extremity-specific patient-reported outcome measures in patients with carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome.
; in addition to the hand patient population
20- Shetty P.N.
- Hawken J.
- Sanghavi K.K.
- Giladi A.M.
Correlation of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System questionnaires with the Brief Michigan Hand Questionnaire in patients with 5 common hand conditions.
,33- Beckmann J.T.
- Hung M.
- Voss M.W.
- Crum A.B.
- Bounsanga J.
- Tyser A.R.
Evaluation of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Upper Extremity computer adaptive test.
and the general orthopaedic patient population.
7- Döring A.C.
- Nota S.P.
- Hageman M.G.
- Ring D.C.
Measurement of upper extremity disability using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System.
The few longitudinal studies previously published have similarly shown that the PROMIS-UE instrument correlates with legacy instruments in patients with upper-extremity fractures,
26- Jayakumar P.
- Teunis T.
- Vranceanu A.-M.
- et al.
Construct validity and precision of different patient-reported outcome measures during recovery after upper extremity fractures.
,27- Kaat A.J.
- Rothrock N.E.
- Vrahas M.S.
- et al.
Longitudinal validation of the PROMIS Physical Function item bank in upper extremity trauma.
idiopathic adhesive capsulitis,
16- Kolade O.
- Ghosh N.
- Luthringer T.A.
- et al.
Correlation of Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) with American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeon (ASES), and Constant (CS) scores in idiopathic adhesive capsulitis.
and early carpometacarpal arthritis,
22- Garcia-Lopez E.
- Moore D.C.
- Kenney D.E.
- Ladd A.L.
- Weiss A.C.
- Crisco J.J.
Evaluation of the PROMIS Upper Extremity against validated patient-reported outcomes in patients with early carpometacarpal osteoarthritis.
as well as patients undergoing shoulder instability repair,
25- Hajewski C.J.
- Glass N.A.
- Westermann R.W.
- Bollier M.
- Wolf B.R.
- Hettrich C.
Performance of the PROMIS after operative interventions for shoulder instability.
total shoulder arthroplasty,
24- Pines Y.
- Gordon D.
- Alben M.
- Kwon Y.W.
- Zuckerman J.D.
- Virk M.S.
Performance and responsiveness to change of PROMIS UE in patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty.
and surgical treatment for osteochondritis dissecans of the humeral capitellum.
23- Broughton J.S.
- Goldfarb C.A.
- Obey M.R.
- Smith M.V.
Performance of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scores compared with legacy metrics in evaluating outcomes after surgical treatment for osteochondritis dissecans of the humeral capitellum.
Nicholson et al.
34- Nicholson A.D.
- Kassam H.F.
- Pan S.D.
- Berman J.E.
- Blaine T.A.
- Kovacevic D.
Performance of PROMIS Global-10 compared with legacy instruments for rotator cuff disease.
analyzed a similar population of patients with rotator cuff disorders as a subset in their study but compared the PROMIS Global-10 instrument with legacy outcome scores.
Our study showed that both the PROMIS-UE and ASES instruments exhibit ceiling effects at 12 months (16.42% and 20.90%, respectively) whereas the WORC instrument does not exhibit ceiling effects at any time point. Cross-sectional studies have reported differing ceiling effects, ranging from 0% for the PROMIS-UE and ASES instruments preoperatively in patients undergoing RCR to 10.82% for the PROMIS-UE instrument in the general hand patient population.
33- Beckmann J.T.
- Hung M.
- Voss M.W.
- Crum A.B.
- Bounsanga J.
- Tyser A.R.
Evaluation of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Upper Extremity computer adaptive test.
The PROMIS-UE score, which is a pure physical function score, starts showing increasing ceiling effects at 12 months, which correlates with the plateau of physical function after RCR. In contrast, the WORC score includes a mix of physical, lifestyle, and emotional functions, which may continue to show improvement beyond the 1-year mark without showing ceiling effects. Broughton et al.
23- Broughton J.S.
- Goldfarb C.A.
- Obey M.R.
- Smith M.V.
Performance of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scores compared with legacy metrics in evaluating outcomes after surgical treatment for osteochondritis dissecans of the humeral capitellum.
and Kaat et al.
27- Kaat A.J.
- Rothrock N.E.
- Vrahas M.S.
- et al.
Longitudinal validation of the PROMIS Physical Function item bank in upper extremity trauma.
reported findings similar to our study findings with respect to high ceiling effects at long-term follow-up time points. These results indicate that the PROMIS-UE instrument can accurately measure physical function in patients with rotator cuff injury; however, owing to the high ceiling effects seen in patients with longer follow-up (≥1 year), the WORC instrument may be a more sensitive outcome instrument in these situations. Regarding floor effects, 6 of the 7 previously cited longitudinal studies found no significant floor effects for the PROMIS-UE instrument, which is in line with our findings.
16- Kolade O.
- Ghosh N.
- Luthringer T.A.
- et al.
Correlation of Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) with American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeon (ASES), and Constant (CS) scores in idiopathic adhesive capsulitis.
,22- Garcia-Lopez E.
- Moore D.C.
- Kenney D.E.
- Ladd A.L.
- Weiss A.C.
- Crisco J.J.
Evaluation of the PROMIS Upper Extremity against validated patient-reported outcomes in patients with early carpometacarpal osteoarthritis.
,24- Pines Y.
- Gordon D.
- Alben M.
- Kwon Y.W.
- Zuckerman J.D.
- Virk M.S.
Performance and responsiveness to change of PROMIS UE in patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty.
, 25- Hajewski C.J.
- Glass N.A.
- Westermann R.W.
- Bollier M.
- Wolf B.R.
- Hettrich C.
Performance of the PROMIS after operative interventions for shoulder instability.
, 26- Jayakumar P.
- Teunis T.
- Vranceanu A.-M.
- et al.
Construct validity and precision of different patient-reported outcome measures during recovery after upper extremity fractures.
, 27- Kaat A.J.
- Rothrock N.E.
- Vrahas M.S.
- et al.
Longitudinal validation of the PROMIS Physical Function item bank in upper extremity trauma.
Our results also indicate that although the PROMIS-UE instrument correlates well with the ASES and WORC instruments postoperatively, there are some key differences in the longitudinal responsiveness of these instruments. The PROMIS-UE instrument showed a small effect size at 6 weeks, medium to large effect size at 3 months, and large effect size at 12 months. The ASES and WORC instruments, however, exhibited medium to large effect sizes at 6 weeks and large effect sizes at both 3 and 12 months. The reason for this difference is evident when we examine the mean scores in
Table 2 and the box plots in
Figures 1,
2, and
3. Unlike both the ASES and WORC scores, the PROMIS-UE score did not show a statistically significant change at 6 weeks. This finding is similar to the results for the ASES-Function subdomain, which showed no significant change at 6 weeks (
P = .106) but showed statistically significant increases at 3 months and 12 months (
P < .001). The difference in longitudinal responsiveness between the PROMIS-UE instrument and both the ASES and WORC instruments observed in this study highlights 2 important issues that make direct comparison between these PROMs difficult: First, each of these instruments measures a different combination of domains of patient health, and second, each differs in the weight it places on each domain when the overall score is calculated. Whereas the PROMIS-UE instrument exclusively measures upper-extremity physical function, the ASES and WORC instruments cover additional domains related to pain, emotion, work, recreation, and/or lifestyle. To complicate matters further, 50% of the total ASES score is determined by a single pain question on a visual analog scale, with the other 50% determined by a 10-question function section that also includes questions about work, leisure, and sleep. The WORC instrument, on the other hand, assigns approximately 48% of its score to pain/symptoms, 19% to sports/recreation/work, 19% to lifestyle, and 14% to emotion, with questions devoted solely to physical function dispersed throughout each subsection. Improvements in 1 domain of patient health, such as pain or range of motion, will therefore affect each score in unique ways. To highlight this difference, we also calculated the correlation between the PROMIS-UE instrument and the Function subdomain of the ASES instrument (ASES-Function). As shown in
Table 3, the correlation between these 2 instruments was stronger at all time points than the correlation between the PROMIS-UE score and the total ASES score.
Table 4 shows that the effect sizes calculated for both the PROMIS-UE and ASES-Function scores followed a similar pattern across the 3 postoperative time points, which can be visually confirmed in the score box plots in
Figures 1 and
4, respectively.
Overall, the variation in the content of these particular PROMs—and of PROMs in general—makes it difficult for researchers to compare studies that use different PROMs with one another, and it makes it difficult for clinicians to use any single PROM score to obtain an accurate picture of how a patient is faring across all domains of health. This issue is in fact one of the main motivations for the development of the PROMIS tools by the National Institutes of Health, as well as why each PROMIS instrument is devoted to a single subdomain of patient health. However, it is not certain whether additional PROMIS instruments (pain interference or pain intensity, mobility, and global) are necessary to improve the responsiveness of the PROMIS-UE instrument compared with the ASES or WORC instrument for rotator cuff disorder or other musculoskeletal disorders. More research is needed to determine the efficacy of the other available PROMIS instruments in the RCR patient population, the best combination of instruments to administer to accurately capture patient health while minimizing response burden, and the minimal clinically important difference for each PROMIS instrument to better understand the clinical importance of changes in patient scores.
Limitations
There are a few limitations of our study. First, we did not compare the PROMIS score with every available shoulder outcome score, such as the Constant score or Simple Shoulder Test score. Although other outcome scores could have been added to the study, doing so could have increased the dropout rate and possibly skewed the results owing to responder fatigue. We selected the general shoulder ASES instrument and the rotator cuff–specific WORC instrument based on their well-established excellent validity, reliability, and responsiveness, as well as their ability to be entirely completed by subjects without the input of a physician (as would be required by the physical examination section of the Constant score, for example).
1- Wylie J.D.
- Beckmann J.T.
- Granger E.
- Tashjian R.Z.
Functional outcomes assessment in shoulder surgery.
Second, like all survey-based studies, this study has the potential to suffer from self-selection and/or response bias. Subjects were required to have access to a working email account (and a computer or phone) to participate in this study, so socioeconomic factors and advanced age could have limited participation and confounded our results. Although use of electronic administration is not generally thought to be a barrier to the use of PROMs, there is limited research in this area.
35Electronic patient centered outcomes in orthopaedic surgery [PhD thesis].
Third, the overall number of subjects included in this study is not large (N = 91). However, the power analysis showed that a sample size of 74 would be sufficient to detect an effect size of 0.4 between outcome scores. Fourth, we did not randomize the order in which subjects completed surveys, so responder fatigue can potentially skew the results. However, a previous study investigating PROMIS performance found no difference in results when randomizing the order of outcome instruments during survey responses.
5- Anthony C.A.
- Glass N.
- Hancock K.
- Bollier M.
- Hettrich C.M.
- Wolf B.R.
Preoperative performance of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System in patients with rotator cuff pathology.
Finally, in addition to undergoing RCR, some subjects underwent procedures such as biceps tenodesis and subacromial decompression, depending on the pathology present and surgeon preference. Although subgroup analysis of patients with and without additional procedures may show important differences, this comparison was not the intent of our study and therefore was not undertaken.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 06, 2023
Accepted:
November 11,
2022
Received:
June 2,
2022
Footnotes
The authors report the following potential conflicts of interest or sources of funding: This study was funded by NYU Langone Health; no outside funding was received. The authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial or nonfinancial interests in the subject matter or materials discussed in this article. Y.W.K. is a paid consultant for DJO Surgical. J.D.Z. receives publishing royalties from SLACK, Wolters Kluwer Health, and Thieme; is a design surgeon for Exactech; receives royalties from Exactech; is a board member of Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation; and owns stock in Apos Therapy and Hip Innovation Technology. M.S.V. is a paid consultant for Exactech. Full ICMJE author disclosure forms are available for this article online, as supplementary material.
Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Arthroscopy Association of North America.