Assessment of quality of life of patients who underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and a rehabilitation program

Introduction: Quality of life can be defined as the expression of aconceptual model that tries to represent patient’s perspectivesand his/her level of satisfaction expressed by numbers. Theobjective of this study is to evaluate the parameters of quality oflife of 23 patients who underwent surgery for anterior cruciateligament reconstruction. Methods: We adopted SF-36, a generichealth-related evaluation questionnaire, to obtain informationregarding several aspects of patients’ health conditions, and theLysholm questionnaire, specific to evaluate the symptoms andfunction of the knee. The questionnaires were applied at two stagesof the treatment: pre- and postoperatively (after the rehabilitationprogram). Results: Before surgery, the Lysholm questionnairepresented the following results: excellent in 4% of the cases, goodin 22%, fair in 22%, and poor in 52%. After surgery (Lysholm e SF-36) the correlation level was approximately 44% (p = 0.041).Discussion: The correlation between the Lysholm and the SF-36questionnaires showed the following: the lower the level of pain,the higher the Lysholm score. The high scores presented by theLysholm questionnaire are directly proportional to physical andemotional aspects, and to functional capacity. Conclusion:Analysis of both questionnaires, as well as of their correlation,showed some improvement in patients´ quality of life. We werealso able to demonstrate the importance and usefulness of applyingthe two questionnaires at three different moments: before, duringand after physiotherapeutic intervention

Tradução, validação e adaptação cultural da escala de atividade de vida diária Translation, validation and cultural adaptation of the 'activities of daily living' scale (ADLS)

OBJETIVO: Realizar a tradução, adaptação cultural e validação do "Knee Outcome Survey- Activities of Daily Living Scale" (ADLS) para a língua portuguesa, bem como verificar suas propriedades de medida, reprodutibilidade e validade, para que o mesmo possa ser usado como um instrumento específico para avaliação de sintomas em pacientes brasileiros portadores de afecções no joelho durante as atividades de vida diária. MÉTODOS: Foram realizadas 2 entrevistas,na primeira o questionário foi aplicado em conjunto ao Lysholm, SF-36 e EAV (examinador 1). Após aproximadamente 30 minutos da primeira entrevista, os mesmos pacientes responderam apenas ao ADLS (examinador 2). Após um intervalo entre 7 a 10 dias, foi realizada a terceira entrevista constituída de nova aplicação do ADLS (examinador 2). RESULTADOS: A amostra consistiu de 53 entrevistados, sendo a média de idade de 33.0566 anos e patologia mais freqüente a lesão ligamentar (56,6%). O índice de Sperman obteve um valor de 0,986 (alfa=0,05, ro<0,01) na reprodutibilidade inter-examinador e de 0,980 (alfa=0,05, ro<0,01). CONCLUSÃO: O questionário ADLS em português é um instrumento útil para avaliação de atividades de vida diária de pacientes brasileiros com afecções no joelho.<br>OBJECTIVES: To perform the translation, cultural adaptation and validation of the "Knee Outcome Survey - Activities of Daily Living Scale" (ADLS) into Portuguese, as well as to check its measurement, reproducibility and validity properties in order to make it useful as a specific instrument for evaluating symptoms in Brazilian patients with knee injuries during their daily living activities. METHODS: Two interviews were performed; in the first interview, the questionnaire was applied along with Lysholm's, SF-36 and VAS (investigator 1). Approximately 30 minutes after the first interview, the same patients answered only the ADLS (investigator 2). After a break of 7 to 10 days, a third additional interview with the ADLS was applied (investigator 2). RESULTS: The sample was constituted of 53 subjects, with mean age of 33.0566 years, with the most frequent pathology being ligamentar injury (56.6%). The Spearman's index used for inter-investigator reproducibility was 0.986 (a=0.05, rho<0.01), and for intra-investigator reproducibility was 0.980 (a=0.05, rho<0.01). Conclusion: The Portuguese language version of ADLS questionnaire is a useful instrument for assessing daily living activities of Brazilian patients with knee injuries