Examination of the PROMIS upper extremity item bank.
Man Hung, Maren W Voss, Jerry Bounsanga and 2 others
PMID 27919565WHAT IT FOUND
The PROMIS UE CAT worked well in orthopaedic patients with upper extremity problems, but most items targeted lower function and missed higher function.
Use caution when your patient may have higher upper extremity ability.
Key findings
01In 1,197 patients with upper extremity orthopaedic conditions, the PROMIS UE item bank measured function consistently, with person reliability 0.84 and item reliability 0.82.
02The items measured one upper extremity function domain, with 4.2% unexplained variance in the first contrast.
03The difference between average person and item measures was 1.32, and the item map showed little coverage at higher ability levels, which showed a ceiling effect.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional and did not assess whether the measure can detect change in function over time. The ceiling effect means the measure may not work well for patients with higher upper extremity function. The sample was from one tertiary orthopaedic hand and upper extremity clinic, so it may not represent other settings or shoulder conditions.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the good reliability scores as proof that the PROMIS UE CAT works well for patients with higher upper extremity function. The study found a ceiling effect and poor targeting at higher ability levels. It also did not assess whether the measure can detect change over time.