There is no consensus to which patient-determined shoulder outcome scores should be considered when analyzing patient outcomes for either clinical or research purposes. The use of multiple outcome scores may be redundant and cause increased responder burden. The hypothesis of this study is that the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score (ASES) will highly correlate with the Simple Shoulder Test (SST) for rotator cuff repair and total shoulder arthroplasty and have comparable responsiveness. If determined to be highly correlated, the use of these scores simultaneously may be redundant and one score may be eliminated.

Methods

A retrospective review of the senior author’s database of patients undergoing rotator cuff repair and total shoulder arthroplasty was reviewed in which the ASES was recorded simultaneously with the SST. Correlations were determined using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r > 0.7 excellent; r = 0.61-0.7 strong-moderate; r = 0.31-0.6 moderate; r = 0.2-0.3 poor) for all interactions between the 2 scores. Subgroup analysis was performed to determine if correlations differed in (1) preoperative outcome and (2) postoperative outcome determinations. Responsiveness was determined by calculating the standardized response mean and the effect size of both scores.

Reference link- https://www.jshoulderelbow.org/article/S1058-2746(20)30608-X/fulltext

Author