Editorial Commentary: Legacy Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Are Superior to Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System for Assessing Function After Hip Arthroscopy

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are critical tools in hip preservation research for evaluating the efficacy of current treatments, as well as identifying risk factors associated with suboptimal outcomes. These measures have been used for quality improvement, for monitoring of health plan performance, and even for reimbursement models. Over the past 2 decades, legacy hip outcome scores have been developed that are patient-centric and evaluate hip-specific function after surgery. There has been a recent trend in using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS), a tool developed by the National Institutes of Health for evaluating PROMs, in the field of hip arthroscopy. However, on the basis of the evidence in the literature, it is unlikely that PROMIS is superior to legacy PROMs regarding evaluation of hip function, nor is it as responsive to quantifying meaningful changes in function that are important to patients. As such, clinicians and researchers alike should likely continue using legacy PROMs to evaluate patients' functional outcomes after hip arthroscopy while continuing to explore the clinical applications of other PROMIS domains.

Automated summary

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are critical tools in hip preservation research. Legacy hip outcome scores have been developed to evaluate hip-specific function after surgery, but there has been a recent trend in using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). However, based on the evidence in the literature, PROMIS is unlikely to be superior to legacy PROMs in evaluating hip function and quantifying meaningful changes in function.