Arthroscopic subacromial decompression: Responsiveness of disease-specificand health-related quality of life outcome measures

Twenty-eight patients who presented with stage II or early stage III imping ement syndrome were evaluated before and after decompression surgery to exa mine the sensitivity and responsiveness of health-related quality of life a nd disease-specific measures. The outcome instruments used included the Med ical Outcomes Study SF36 health survey; the Constant-Murley shoulder storin g system (CM), the University of California at Los Angeles shoulder rating scale (UCLA) and visual analogue scales (VAS) for pain. Preoperative and sh ort-term postoperative evaluations showed significant improvements in all o utcome instruments, including pain and physical role dimensions of the SF36 . However, the UCLA and VAS pain scores were confirmed as the most responsi ve and sensitive measures to short-term change following arthroscopic decom pression.