International groups propose guidelines for outcome measurement of distal radius fractures

The Distal Radius Working Group of the International Society for Fracture Repair and the International Osteoporosis Foundation recently released guidelines for outcome measurement of distal radius fractures.

“In regard to distal radius fractures, there is currently no agreed-upon definition of what should be measured in a clinical trial,” Jörg Goldhahn, MD, PhD, president-elect of the International Society for Fracture Repair and a lecturer at the Institute for Biomechanics of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, stated in a press release. “As a result, researchers are faced with heterogeneous information – a serious barrier to high-quality research in the evaluation of outcomes or definition of intervention thresholds.”

The guidelines were published in a recent issue of Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery. Goldhahn and colleagues made the following core recommendations for the measurement of clinical outcomes in distal radius fractures:

pain and function are regarded as the primary domains;
brief measures are needed for routine administration in clinical practice;
brief measures could be augmented by additional measures that provide more detail or address additional domains for clinical research;
measurement of pain should include measures of both intensity and frequency as core attributes;
a numeric pain scale, such as VAS, visual numeric scale or the pain subscale of the patient-reported wrist evaluation (PRWE) questionnaires, are reliable, valid and feasible measures to measure these concepts;
for function, either the QuickDASH questionnaire or PRWE-function subscale are reliable, valid and feasible measures; and
a measure of participation and treatment complications should be considered core outcomes for both clinical practice and research.

“A standardized approach to identifying a minimal core set of domains in the assessment of wrist fracture patients will immensely benefit both study designs and clinical practice; the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) welcomes this development.,” Cyrus Cooper, MA, DM, FRCP, FFPH, FMedSci, chair of the IOF committee of scientific advisors, stated in a press release.

Reference:

Goldhahn J. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2013;doi:10.1007/s00402-013-1767-9.

Disclosure: Goldhahn is on the speaker’s bureau for Eli Lilly and is a paid consultant for Servier, Amgen, Norvartis and Eli Lilly.