We sought to correlate physical functions of the shoulder to American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scores.
We reviewed 3300 patient encounters with completed ASES scores, representing 2447 patients. Patients were seen for shoulder-related complaints. The most common diagnoses were rotator cuff disease (56%) and arthritis (9%); 54% and 46% of encounters were in operatively and nonoperatively treated patients, respectively. A total of 2632 PROMIS Physical Function (PF), 2574 PROMIS Pain Interference (PI), and 959 PROMIS Upper Extremity (UE) scores were simultaneously collected with the ASES form. The ASES form specifically asks about the ability to perform 8 physical functions. Receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated to determine 90% positive predictive value (PPV) and 90% negative predictive value (NPV) cutoffs for the ability to perform at high function for the ASES and PROMIS-PF, -UE, and -PI scores for the entire shoulder cohort and for rotator cuff disease and arthritis subgroups.
ASES scores had consistently excellent ability, PROMIS-UE scores had reasonable to excellent ability, and PROMIS-PF and PROMIS-PI scores had overall reasonable ability to determine high- and low-function states. For reaching a high shelf in the rotator cuff disease subgroup, the 90% NPV and PPV cutoff scores were 41 and 66, respectively, for the ASES instrument. For reaching a high shelf in the arthritis subgroup, the cutoff scores were 50 and 78, respectively, for the ASES instrument. The 90% NPV and PPV cutoffs for each score, physical function, and diagnosis group were depicted by visual representations ("maps") for easier interpretation.
Shoulder physical functions were mapped to outcome scores. Physical function mapping adds clinical meaning to the orthopedic literature, facilitating improved, more-informed decision making between physicians and patients.