Validity of health status measures in patients with ulnar wrist disorders.
OBJECTIVE
To assess measurement properties and construct validity of health status measures.


METHODS
Forty-three patients with surgically managed ulnocarpal impingement completed a self-report mail survey, including regional (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand [DASH] questionnaire), disease-specific (Brigham Functional Scale), and generic (Short Form 36 [SF-36] Acute Health Survey) health status measures and questions on condition severity and work status.


METHODS
Scores were transformed and frequency distributions constructed to compare the distribution of responses to the measures. Correlation analysis and analysis of variance were applied to assess construct validity.


RESULTS
The DASH and Brigham questionnaires had similar distributions of scores, with a slightly greater spread of responses and no ceiling effect on the DASH. Patients appeared slightly less healthy on the basis of the SF-36 scores, which reflected in part the effect of comorbidities. Both the DASH and the Brigham discriminated across levels of severity and work status; the DASH also discriminated on the basis of type of surgery. The SF-36 was able to discriminate some constructs but not as well as the regional and disease-specific measures.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides evidence of construct validity for the DASH and Brigham questionnaires in patients with ulnar wrist problems in the late post-operative period.
Jain
R
R
Scarborough General Hospital Toronto, Ontario, Canada. rina.jain@utoronto.ca
Hudak
P L
PL
Bowen
C V
CV
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D017769:Ulnar Nerve Compression Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis; D014953:Wrist