Minimal important change for the visual analogue scale foot and ankle (VAS-FA)

Antti J Saarinen; Mikko M Uimonen; Henrik Sandelin; Alar Toom; Martinus Richter; Jussi P Repo

doi:10.1016/j.fas.2020.04.005

Minimal important change for the visual analogue scale foot and ankle (VAS-FA)

Foot Ankle Surg. 2021 Feb;27(2):196-200. doi: 10.1016/j.fas.2020.04.005. Epub 2020 Apr 27.

Authors

Antti J Saarinen¹, Mikko M Uimonen², Henrik Sandelin³, Alar Toom², Martinus Richter⁴, Jussi P Repo²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland. Electronic address: antti.j.saarinen@utu.fi.
² Department of Surgery, Central Finland Hospital District, Jyväskylä, Finland.
³ Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Finland; Orthopaedic Department, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ Department for Foot and Ankle Surgery Rummelsberg and Nuremberg, Germany.

PMID: 32444340
DOI: 10.1016/j.fas.2020.04.005

Abstract

Background: Visual analogue scale foot and ankle (VAS-FA) is a patient-reported outcome measure for foot and ankle disorders. The VAS-FA is validated into several languages and well adopted into use. Nonetheless, minimal important change (MIC) for the VAS-FA has not been estimated thus far.

Methods: The VAS-FA score was obtained from 106 patients undergoing surgery for various foot and ankle complaints. MIC was estimated using an anchor-based predictive method.

Results: The adjusted MIC was 6.8 for total VAS-FA score, and 9.3 for the Pain, 5.8 for the Function, and 5.7 for the Other complaints subscales. The VAS-FA score was found to separate improvement and deterioration in patients' foot and ankle condition.

Conclusions: MIC was successfully defined for the VAS-FA in the current study. The VAS-FA can be used to evaluate foot and ankle patients' clinical foot and ankle status and its change. Further research on estimating disease-specific MICs is recommended.

Keywords: Ankle; Foot; Minimal clinical change; Patient reported outcome measure; VAS-FA.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Ankle / surgery*
Female
Foot / surgery*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Pain Measurement
Patient Reported Outcome Measures*
Predictive Value of Tests
Visual Analog Scale*
Young Adult