Abstract

Retrospective cohort design. The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for the quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QDASH) has been established using a pool of multiple conditions, and only exclusively for the shoulder. Understanding diagnoses-specific threshold change values can enhance the clinical decision-making process. Before and after QDASH scores for 406 participants with conditions of surgical distal radius fracture, non-surgical lateral epicondylitis, and surgical carpal tunnel release were obtained. The external anchor administered at each fourth visit was a 15-point global rating of change scale. The test-retest reliability of the QDASH was moderate for all diagnoses: intraclass correlation coefficient model 2, 1, for surgical distal radius = 0.71; non-surgical lateral epicondylitis = 0.69; and surgical carpal tunnel = 0.69. The minimum detectable change at the 90% confidence level was 25.28; 22.49; and 27.63 points respectively; and the MCID values were 25.8; 15.8 and 18.7, respectively. For these three distal upper extremity conditions, a QDASH MCID of 16-26 points could represent the estimate of change in score that is important to the patient and guide clinicians through the decision-making process.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2016

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Journal of Hand Therapy, v. 29, no. 1, p. 81-88.

Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Hanley & Belfus, an imprint of Elsevier Inc.

© 2016. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

The document available for download is the authors' post-peer-review final draft of the article.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jht.2015.09.003

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