Content comparison of four commonly used amputee mobility assessment scales in the literature by linking to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health

Content comparison of utility and effectiveness instruments to the Prosthetic Interventions Core Outcome Set: a step to inform the benefits measured in lower-limb prosthetic health economic evaluations

PURPOSE

Health Economic Evaluations (HEEs) calculate a cost-benefit ratio using utility and effectiveness instruments. It is unknown whether existing instruments measure the items of the Prosthetic Interventions Core Outcome Set (PI-COS) that represent the benefits most important to lower-limb prosthesis users and funders. Comparing the content of existing instruments against the PI-COS will support instrument selection for future prosthetic HEEs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Utility and effectiveness instruments used to evaluate prosthetic interventions were identified and their International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health framework (ICF) linking results were extracted. Content of each instrument was compared to the PI-COS through three metrics: content density, content diversity and bandwidth.

RESULTS

Of the 130 utility and effectiveness instruments, 24 had previously been linked to the ICF. The instrument with the greatest bandwidth (i.e., broadest content coverage of the PI-COS) was the SF-36 given it linked to 6 of the 14 items of the PI-COS. Combining PROMIS subscales and short-forms allow measurement of a greater range of the PI-COS items.

CONCLUSIONS

There is no perfect fit instrument providing coverage of the PI-COS using the metrics of content density, content diversity and bandwidth. The PROMIS instrument may provide increase coverage of the PI-COS in future HEEs.

Research and application advances in rehabilitation assessment of stroke

Stroke has a high incidence and disability rate, and rehabilitation is an effective means to reduce the disability rate of patients. To systematize rehabilitation assessment, which is the foundation for rehabilitation therapy, we summarize the assessment methods commonly used in research and clinical applications, including the various types of stroke rehabilitation scales and their applicability, and related biomedical detection technologies, including surface electromyography (sEMG), motion analysis systems, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and combinations of different techniques. We also introduce some assessment techniques that are still in the experimental phase, such as the prospective application of artificial intelligence (AI) with optical correlation tomography (OCT) in stroke rehabilitation. This review provides a useful bibliography for the assessment of not only the severity of stroke injury, but also the therapeutic effects of stroke rehabilitation, and establishes a solid base for the future development of stroke rehabilitation skills.