The spasticity-related quality of life 6-dimensions instrument in upper-limb spasticity: Part I Development and responsiveness.
Lynne Turner-Stokes, Klemens Fheodoroff, Jorge Jacinto and 7 others
PMID 34726763WHAT IT FOUND
The SQoL-6D questionnaire tracked upper-limb spasticity quality of life over 8 weeks.
Total scores improved more when patients or clinicians judged routine care helpful, so therapists can use it to track patient-reported change.
Key findings
01The SQoL-6D Total score improved by 11.9 points on a 0 to 100 scale between enrolment and follow-up.
02Mean total-score change was 17.5 points for investigator-rated great benefit, 10.1 for some benefit, and -0.8 for no benefit.
03Patients who achieved their GASeous goals improved by 13.0 points, compared with 7.9 for those who did not, but only mobility/balance reached significance (p = 0.022).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study did not collect full details of the spasticity treatments, so it cannot show that any particular intervention caused the score changes. It was a single-country UK cohort, so findings may not apply to other health systems or patient populations. Only 90 patients completed both visits, and the no-benefit group contained 5 patients, which is too small to define a reliable responder threshold or minimally important difference. Most between-group differences at individual item level did not reach statistical significance, except mobility/balance. Enrolment required understanding of English and cognitive ability to answer the SQoL-6D, so the results do not speak to patients who cannot use the questionnaire. The study assessed a questionnaire in real clinical care, not the effectiveness of any treatment.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 11.9-point improvement as proof that a specific spasticity treatment worked. The study did not collect full treatment details, and it was designed to test whether the SQoL-6D could detect change, not whether any intervention caused improvement.