Purpose: Successful outcomes for an athlete usually consist of returning to their sport. The Subjective Patient Outcome for Return to Sports (SPORTS) score has been recently proposed as an easy to use score for evaluating an athlete's ability to return to their sport. The aim of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the SPORTS score in athletes 5-10 years after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.
Methods: A total of 47 athletes (average age 30, range 15-45), 5-10 years, after an anterior cruciate reconstruction were included in this study. Athletes were asked to complete the SPORTS score with an intermediate period of 2 weeks in order to measure reliability by using the Bland-Altman method and the ICC score. The criterion validity was assessed by calculating the Spearman correlation coefficient between the SPORTS score and Lysholm score, KOOS score and the SF-36.
Results: The SPORTS score showed excellent reliability (ICC = 0.967). The systematic error was 0 points (95% upper limit of agreement = 1.8 points). A strong correlation was found between the SPORTS score and the sports and recreation component on the KOOS score (r = 0.55, P < 0.001). The floor effect was 9% and the ceiling effect 32%.
Conclusion: This study suggests that the SPORTS score is a valid and reliable tool to assess and quantify return to sport.