Measurements of Best, Worst, and Average Socket Comfort Are More Reliable Than Current Socket Comfort in Established Lower Limb Prosthesis Users.

Only 72 participants were analysed; 84 enrolled, 78 completed both surveys, and 6 were excluded after reported changes. Participants who reported changes in health or mobility between visits were excluded, so the study tested stability only when the person believed socket comfort was stable. The best, worst, and average items asked about the prior 7 days, but responses were not checked against a socket comfort diary. 82% of participants had non-dysvascular amputations, compared with 19% in the general population, so results may not represent people with dysvascular amputation. Participants were on average 20.6 years after amputation, so results may not generalise to people with recent amputation. All four items had stability estimates of .77 to .88, below the .9 level typically desired for measuring change within a person. The items did not capture situations that may make socket comfort better or worse.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The article is labelled as receiving NIH, U.S. government, and non-U.S. government research support.

Do not conclude that the new socket comfort scores can be trusted to track change in a patient. The best, worst, and average items were more stable than the current item, but all four had stability estimates of .77 to .88, below the .9 level usually wanted for detecting change within a person.