THE USE OF A GENERIC, PATIENT-BASED HEALTH ASSESSMENT (SF-36) FOR EVALUATION OF PATIENTS WITH ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT INJURIES

The MOS 36-item short-form health survey is a generic, patient-based h ealth assessment tool. It has been used to assess functional outcome f or many medical conditions, both acute and chronic. The use of this su rvey in evaluating the effects of treatment of any specific disease or injury allows comparison of treatments across a broad spectrum of dis ease categories. The purpose of this study was to see if this assessme nt tool could 1) be used to identify those patients requiring anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, 2) detect changes in the patients w ith treatment over time, and 3) correlate with the commonly used knee assessment scales. The short-form health survey could not identify tho se patients requiring anterior cruciate ligament reconstructive surger y. However, it did show important and significant changes with treatme nt (surgical and nonsurgical) over time. There was a significant corre lation between the short-form health survey and the Lysholm and Intern ational Knee Documentation Committee scores during this study. The add ition of the MOS 36-item short-form health survey to our traditional k nee ligament evaluation tools is encouraged. Its use will permit the o rthopaedic community to demonstrate the value of our treatment of ante rior cruciate ligament injuries to health care planners and generalist physicians.