A patient-reported outcome measure for patients with Dupuytren's disease.

Introduction: A Danish validated patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) specific to Dupuytren's disease (DD) does currently not exist. Such a PROM would be useful in the assessment of DD patients. The aim of this study was to translate the Southampton Dupuytren's Scoring Scheme (SDSS) into Danish and validate the translated version of the PROM.

Methods: The SDSS was translated according to guidelines by Swaine-Verdier et al. A total of 110 patients diagnosed with DD completed the translated SDSS and evaluated the PROM. The severity of DD was assessed clinically using the Tubiana classification method. In all, 16 patients treated with collagenase injections were re-evaluated with the SDSS and the Tubiana post treatment. The reliability of the SDSS was tested in terms of internal consistency expressed as Cronbach's alpha and test-retest expressed by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Construct validation was calculated by Spearman's correlation coefficient between the SDSS and the Tubiana, and the responsiveness of the PROM was tested using point-biserial correlation and standardised response mean (SRM).

Results: Cronbach's alpha was 0.76 and an ICC of 0.82 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.53-0.93, p less-than 0.0001). Spearman's correlation coefficient was 0.26 (95% CI: 0.08-0.43, p = 0.007) preoperatively and 0.39 (95% CI: -0.13-0.74, p = 0.14) post treatment. The SRM was 1.96 (95% CI: 1.42-2.48), and the point-biserial correlation coefficient was 0.52 (95% CI: 0.03-0.81, p = 0.039).

Conclusions: The PROM shows good reliability, has substantial responsiveness to change and enjoys a high level of patient approval. The PROM is therefore recommended for patients with DD.

Funding: none.

Trial Registration: The study was reported to the Danish Data Protection Agency.