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IKDC a reliable measurement of knee function in younger patients
Schmitt LC. Am J Sports Med. Published online: August 30, 2010.
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The International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Evaluation Form is a valid, consistent tool for measuring knee function in patients aged 6-18 years.
The researchers gave the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Evaluation Form (IKDC) to 673 patients aged 6-18 years. They determined the internal consistency for the whole cohort and for age-group cohorts — pediatric, 6 to 12 years; adolescent, 13 to 15 years; young adult, 16 to 18 years). Laura C. Schmitt, PT, PhD, and colleagues at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, used the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales (PedsQL) physical functioning component for comparison.
The original IKDC format had high internal consistency, the authors found. A single, dominant component was inherent to the item responses for each group, according to factor analysis. Schmitt and colleagues found that items 2, 3 and 6 may contribute to measurement errors in young patients. The whole cohort had a moderately high correlation between the IKDC Knee Form and the PedsQL physical functioning component score (r=.83). The correlation was also moderately high for all age groups: pediatric (r=.84), adolescent (r=.84), young adult (r=.79).
“In its current form, the IKDC Knee Form is a valid and consistent knee-specific measure of symptoms, function, and sports activity in individuals between the ages of 6 and 18 years with a variety of knee problems,” the authors wrote. “Further work is needed to establish the reliability and responsiveness of the IKDC Knee Form for this age group.”