The Liverpool Elbow Score, patient-answered section: Cultural adaptation, validity and reliability of Turkish version.

Background: The use of self-assessment questionnaires in addition to clinical evaluations is gradually increasing. Liverpool Elbow Scale (LES) is an elbow-specific outcome score that provides a comprehensive assessment of by both the clinicians and patients. However, it has not been adapted and validated to Turkish language.

Objective: To conduct the translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of Liverpool Elbow Score-patient answered outcome (LES-PAQ) into Turkish for patients with elbow fracture.

Design: Study of diagnostic accuracy/assessment scale.

Methods: This study was carried out in three consecutive phases: translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation. In the third phase, we used the Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (Quick-DASH), Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS) and 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12) physical health score.

Results: Sixty-one patients were included for the analysis. Neither a ceiling nor a floor effect was observed. Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.89. Intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.94 (95% CI 0.89 to 0.96; p < 0.001). SEM was 0.28 and MDC was 0.79. The LES-PAQ showed a high negative correlation with the Quick-DASH (r = -0.72, p < 0.001) and high positive correlation with MEPS (r = 0.77, p < 0.001), and with SF-12 physical health subscale (r = 0.73, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The Turkish version of the LES-PAQ is a reliable and valid tool for the assessment of the patients with elbow fracture.