LAUSR

BACKGROUND/HYPOTHESIS There is no consensus to which patient-determined shoulder outcome scores should be considered when analyzing patient outcomes for either clinical or research purposes. Use of multiple patient-determined outcomes may be redundant and cause increased responder burden. To date, the Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation (SANE) has not been widely accepted as a stand-alone shoulder-specific outcome measure. The hypothesis of this study was the SANE will correlate with and be equal or superior in responsiveness to other outcome measures that have been used in a stand-alone fashion in patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty [American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Score (ASES), Western Ontario Osteoarthritis Score (WOOS), and the Simple Shoulder Test (SST]). In addition, the SANE will be more relevant to each patient compared to the ASES further supporting its use as a stand-alone shoulder-specific outcomes measure. METHODS A retrospective review of a database of patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty was reviewed where the SANE was recorded simultaneously with the ASES, WOOS, and/or SST. Correlations were determined using the Pearson coefficient. Sub-group 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 (SRM) and the effect size (ES) of both scores. Relevance of the SANE and ASES was examined using 150 consecutive patients to determine the number of questions in each score that were not answered. RESULTS Correlation was excellent for the SANE and the ASES (n=1447; r=0.82; p<0.0001), the WOOS (n=1514; r=0.83; p<0.0001), and the SST (n=1095; r=0.81; p<0.0001). Correlation of preoperative scores was moderate and postoperative scores were strong-moderate when comparing the SANE with all three scores. All scores were highly responsive with the SRM of the SANE = 2.2, ASES = 2.3, WOOS = 1.4, and the SST=1.6. The ES of the SANE = 2.9, ASES = 2.9, WOOS = 2.9, and the SST=2.3. 100% of the SANE scores were answered completely compared to 61% (p<0.0001) of the ASES questions. CONCLUSION In patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty, the SANE highly correlated with the WOOS, ASES and SST which have been used as stand-alone shoulder-specific outcomes measures. The SANE may provide the same information as the WOOS, ASES, and SST regarding outcome with significant reduction in responder burden. It is logical that the SANE can be utilized as a stand-alone instrument for patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty.