A Comparative Study of the Shoulder Scoring Systems

견관절 Scoring System의 비교연구

Aim: To evaluate validity and responsiveness of four shoulder scoring systems. Material and Method: Twenty-five cases of shoulder instability(22 traumatic, 3 non-traumatic) and twenty-three cases of rotator cuff tear(12 small or medium, 10 large or massive) treated surgically were evaluated with the Shoulder Function Score of the University of Pennsylvania(Penn FS), Constant Score, UCLA Shoulder Rating Scale and Simple Shouler Test(SST), preoperatively and at final follow-up. The average follow-up was 16.0 months in instability group and 17.5 months in rotator cuff tear group. Using the SPSS program, Pearson linear correlation coefficiency(PLCC) between the scores were calculated. And to assess the construct validity, PLCC between patients' satisfaction and the scores were also calculated. Responsiveness was measured by the standardized response mean(SRM). Result: In instability group, correlation between the scoring systems was low preoperatively except between Constant and SST, but high after operation. Patients' satisfaction with the scores showed low PLCC preoperativley, but high PLCC postoperatively. SRM was high in PENN and UCLA, but when the satisfaction segment of the score was eliminated from UCLA, the SRM was the lowest. In rotator cuff tear group, there was high correlation between the scores not only preoperatively but postoperatively. And the patients' satisfaction matched well with the scores. SRM was particularly high in UCLA and SST. Even when satisfaction segment was eliminated from UCLA, the SRM was still the highest. Conclusion : Evaluation by the 4 scoring systems investigated in the study showed less consistency in instability than rotator cuff tear in terms of correlation and validity. Responsiveness was generally higher in rotator cuff tear group than in instability group except for Pennsylvania Shoulder Function Score. Therefore it is construed that use of any among the four scoring systems doesn't make difference in evaluation of rotator cuff lesions. However in instability group, care is needed because different result may be obtained according to the selection of a scoring system.