BACKGROUND: Identification of high impact chronic pain (HICP) among patients receiving total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) may allow for design and implementation of tailored pain interventions to address the negative impact on postoperative outcomes and quality of life. This analysis sought to determine if PROMIS measures could be used to estimate HICP status following TSA.
METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of a cohort of patients (n=227) who received a TSA at a single, academic medical center, of whom 25 (11.5%) met HICP status postoperatively. Generalized linear models (GLM) estimated HICP from each PROMIS measure of physical function, pain interference, sleep disturbance, anxiety, and dyspnea individually, then in a combined model. Area under the curve (AUC) was calculated using receiver operator characteristic curves to assess accuracy of each PROMIS measure to estimate HICP status for patients receiving TSA.
RESULTS: Bivariate GLM models and mean difference analyses revealed individuals with HICP had worse PROMIS scores in every included domain (all p-values <0.01). Only pain interference (AUC= 0.964) and physical function (AUC= 0.907) PROMIS measures met criteria (AUC>0.850) to accurately predict HICP. A pain interference score ≥58.3 and/or a physical function score ≤41.2 could be used to estimate HICP from PROMIS measures in this cohort.
CONCLUSION: Two PROMIS measures commonly administered in orthopedic surgery settings, physical function and pain interference, can be used to estimate HICP for patients receiving TSA. Further application and evaluation of these cutoff scores can be used to assist in refining assessment of outcomes for patients receiving TSA.
