Abstract
To explore and describe the outcome measures reported in primary research of ankle osteoarthritis (OA) and to propose aligned health-related domains.
Six databases were searched, and studies were screened by two independent reviewers. Studies of participants with ankle OA who were> 18 years of age and reported outcome measure data were included. Non-English, animal, cadaveric, reviews, and studies with< 5 participants were excluded. Outcome measures were examined for content and mapped to health-related domains.
1386 studies were identified, of which 547 met selection criteria – reporting 250 outcome measures. Most commonly reported measures were the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Ankle-Hindfoot Scale (n = 257 studies), plain radiographs to measure ankle alignment (n = 211), numerical rating scale for pain severity (n = 177) and goniometry to measure ankle range of motion (n = 148). Outcome measures were organised into 19 domains. The most common domains were pain severity (315 (58%) studies), ankle alignment (254 (46%)), ankle motion (181 (33%)), disability (169 (31%)) and health-related quality of life (128 (23%)). These domains fell into the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) core areas of life impact and pathophysiological manifestations.
Many outcome measures are used in ankle OA research, most of which assess joint alignment, pain, and motion. Based on the outcome measures identified, we proposed 19 possible health-related domains, predominantly in the OMERACT core areas of life impact and pathophysiological manifestations of ankle OA. Clinicians and researchers can use this review in guiding selection of outcome measures.
•There are a large number of seemingly disparately used outcome measures in studies of ankle osteoarthritis (OA) making it challenging to translate findings into practice.•We identified and aggregated the most commonly used outcome measures as a means of signalling likely health-related domains that ought to be considered when conducting research in ankle OA.•Our findings provide a source of potential health-related domains based on ankle OA literature which can be used in future studies to develop a core domain set for ankle OA.