ArticleJournal of shoulder and elbow surgery2021
The critical difference in the DASH (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand) outcome measure after essential upper extremity tumor surgery.
Article in Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Predictors of Recurrence in Hand Giant Cell Tumor of Tendon Sheath: A Systematic Review.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2026Article
- The Effects of Motor Imagery on Trapeziometacarpal Osteoarthritis in Women During the Post-Surgical Immobilization Period: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The effects of motor imagery on trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis in women during the post-surgical immobilisation period: A protocol for a randomised clinical trial.The British journal of occupational therapy · 2023Article
- Comparison of single-pore non-liposuction near-infrared laparoscopy with conventional open surgery for axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with early breast cancer: a single-center, small-sample retrospective study.World journal of surgical oncology · 2023Article
- Review
- Establishing the Minimal Clinically Important Difference and Substantial Clinical Benefit for the Pain Visual Analog Scale in a Postoperative Hand Surgery Population.The Journal of hand surgery · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe DASH (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand) is a scored questionnaire that is widely used to evaluate the health-related quality of life of patients with upper limb musculoskeletal disorders. However, numerical changes in the measure scores lack clinical significance without meaningful threshold change values of outcome measures that are diagnostically specific. The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is useful for the interpretation of scores by defining the smallest change that a patient would perceive. However, the MCIDs of the scores in orthopedic oncology patients has not been reported. We aimed to determine the MCIDs of the measure in orthopedic oncology patients.
methodsData from our health-related quality of life database from 1999 to 2005 were retrospectively reviewed after institutional review board approval. Seventy-eight patients who underwent surgery and completed 2 surveys during postoperative follow-up were evaluated. Two different methods were used to estimate the MCIDs: distribution-based and anchor-based approaches (the latter used receiver operating characteristic analysis).
resultsUsing distribution-based methods, the MCIDs of the DASH questionnaire were 7.4 and 8.3 by half standard deviation and the 90% interval of minimal detectable change, respectively. By anchor-based method (receiver operating characteristic analysis), the MCID was 8.3.
conclusionThe MCID values calculated by each method validates that the results for upper extremity oncology patients were similar to those reported in other orthopedic conditions. These results identify the threshold for meaningful improvements in DASH scores in orthopedic oncology patients and establish the reference to evaluate health-related quality of life and the outcomes of upper extremity oncology surgery. These data should be further refined for disease- and reconstruction-specific analyses.
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