Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for Patients with Upper Extremity Arthritis: Overview of Systematic Reviews

Background: Arthritis leads to disabilities impacting patients' physical and mental health.

Objective: To synthesize the evidence on measurement properties of the patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for people with upper extremity arthritis.

Design: Overview of systematic reviews (SRs).

Methods: We performed an electronic search of 6 databases to retrieve SRs looking at any measurement property related to PROMs for people with upper extremity arthritis. Two authors rated the risk of bias (ROB) of the included SRs using AMSTAR. We extracted data on measurement properties from each SR.

Results: From 6 included SRs, 6 PROMs (Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale [AIMS], AIMS-2, AIMS-Short Form, Cedars-Sinai Health-Related Quality of Life for Rheumatoid Arthritis (CSHQ-RA), Revised CSHQ-RA, and Influence of Rheumatic Disease on General Health and Lifestyle) were evaluated in 2 or more SRs. The ROB of the included SRs ranged from moderate to high. Low- to moderate-quality evidence was found of good construct and criterion validity, acceptable content validity, and good responsiveness of the AIMS. We found low- to moderate-quality evidence of good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity of the CSHQ-RA.

Conclusion: We found a moderate to high ROB in the included SRs on the upper extremity PROMs for patients with arthritis. More evidence was specific to upper extremity arthritis in measures not in common use versus well-validated measures used in upper extremity conditions and recommended in current core sets. These factors suggest an urgent need for additional research to improve the scope and quality of evidence before recommendations can be made specific to patients with arthritis.

Registration number: on PROSPERO CRD 42019137491.