title: Comparison of the Musculoskeletal Function Assessment questionnaire with the Short Form-36, the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, and the Sickness Impact Profile health-status measures.
abstract: We compared the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Musculoskeletal Function Assessment (MFA) questionnaire with those of three commonly used health-status measures: the Short Form-36 (SF-36), the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), and the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP). The MFA, like the other health-status measures, demonstrated good reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients of more than 0.70), good sensitivity and specificity (more than 70 per cent), good criterion validity that correlated with physicians' ratings (p < 0.01), and good construct validity that correlated with the characteristics of the patients (p < 0.01). It also demonstrated better content validity than the other questionnaires, with no ceiling or floor effects for the total score. In addition, it was more responsive than the SF-36; for eight of the eleven comparisons, it was more efficient (relative efficiency of more than 2.00) in measuring changes in function between the baseline values and the values determined at the latest follow-up evaluation. These findings suggest that the MFA can be used to assess the health status of patients who have a musculoskeletal disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle 98104-2499, USA.
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Engelberg
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Agel
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Swiontkowski
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000175:diagnosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires