The Brazilian version of the High-Activity Arthroplasty Score: cross-cultural adaptation

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: The High Activity Arthroplasty Score (HAAS) is a self-administered questionnaire, developed in British English, that reliably and validly measures the levels of sports activities in patients following hip and knee arthroplasty surgery. OBJECTIVE: To cross-culturally adapt the HAAS to Brazilian Portuguese language. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a public university hospital in Brazil. METHODS: The Brazilian version of the HAAS was created through a six-step process: translation, synthesis, committee review, pretesting, back-translation, and submission to developers. The translation step was conducted by two independent bilingual translators, both native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. The back-translation was performed by an independent translator, a native speaker of British English. To ensure the questionnaire's comprehensibility, 46 volunteers (51% men; average age 34-63) participated in the pre-testing step. RESULTS: The cross-cultural adaptation process necessitated modifications to certain terms and expressions to achieve cultural equivalence with the original HAAS. CONCLUSION: The HAAS has been translated from English into Brazilian Portuguese and culturally adapted for Brazil. The validation process for HAAS-Brazil is currently underway.

Gathering patients and rheumatologists' perceptions to improve outcomes in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies

Abstract Objective Therapeutic targets in Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies (IIM) are based on the opinions of physicians/specialists, which may not reflect the main concerns of patients. The authors, therefore, assessed the outcome concerns of patients with IIM and compared them with the concerns of rheumatologists in order to develop an IIM outcome standard set. Methods Ninety-three IIM patients, 51 rheumatologists, and one physiotherapist were invited to participate. An open questionnaire was initially applied. The top 10 answers were selected and applied in a multiple-choice questionnaire, inquiring about the top 3 major concerns. Answers were compared, and the agreement rate was calculated. Concerns were gathered in an IIM outcome standard set with validated measures. Results The top three outcome concerns raised by patients were medication side effects/muscle weakness/prevention functionality loss. The top three concerns among rheumatologists were to prevent loss of functionality/to ensure the quality of life/to achieve disease remission. Other's outcomes concerns only pointed out by patients were muscle pain/diffuse pain/skin lesions/fatigue. The agreement rate between both groups was 41%. Assessment of these parameters guided the development of an IIM standard set which included Myositis Disease Activity Assessment Visual Analogue Scale/Manual Muscle Testing/fatigue and pain Global Visual Analogue Scale/Health Assessment Questionnaire/level of physical activity. Conclusion The authors propose a novel standard set to be pursued in IIM routine follow-up, which includes not only the main patients/rheumatologist outcome concerns but also additional important outcomes only indicated by patients. Future studies are necessary to confirm if this comprehensive approach will result in improved adherence and ultimately in better assistance.

A blinded, three-arm randomised trial assessing joint function and measuring three-dimensional knee joint kinematics in individuals six months after a total knee joint replacement; comparing a medially stabilised design, to standard fixed bearing conventional designs – posterior stabilising and cruciate retaining

Background: No randomised trial exists to assess the relative prosthetic performance of three fixed bearing total knee joint replacement construct designs through clinical functional outcomes and biomechanical gait analysis at six months after the index procedure.Methods: The design of a double blinded, prospective, randomised trial with three parallel patient groups is presented. Patients reviewed in consultant clinic with radiographic and clinical diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the knee, with the condition deemed severe enough to require a total knee joint replacement (TKJR) are eligible. Subjects enrolled in the trial are randomised to one of the three TKJR construct designs approximately ten days prior to scheduled date of surgery. Each subject is then followed up for at least twelve months. Repeated measure of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) will be utilised to uncover any clinical functional differences in each trial group in each time interval.Results: Differences in clinical functional scores at each time interval compared to pre-intervention, as well as between group differences in clinical functional scores at each time interval will be examined. At six months after the operation, biomechanical measurements of joint motion, ground reaction forces, and muscle electromyographic (EMG) activity will be recorded simultaneously from each subject for four test conditions: level walking, stair ascent, stair descent, and chair rise.Conclusions: This randomised trial is designed to better understand the relationships between the clinical functional outcomes and replaced knee kinematics in three fixed bearing total knee replacement construct designs at six months postoperatively.