Reliability and Validity of the German Version of the AO Spine Patient Reported Outcome Spine Trauma Questionnaire

Sonja Häckel; Katharina A C Oswald; Leonie Koller; Lorin M Benneker; Layla A Benneker; Said Sadiqi; F Cumhur Oner; Moritz C Deml

doi:10.1177/21925682231156124

Reliability and Validity of the German Version of the AO Spine Patient Reported Outcome Spine Trauma Questionnaire

Global Spine J. 2023 Feb 7:21925682231156124. doi: 10.1177/21925682231156124. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sonja Häckel¹, Katharina A C Oswald¹, Leonie Koller¹, Lorin M Benneker², Layla A Benneker³, Said Sadiqi⁴, F Cumhur Oner⁴, Moritz C Deml¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, University Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
² Ortho-Spine, Sonnenhof Spital Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
³ Department for Mathematics and Statistics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Orthopaedics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

PMID: 36751047
DOI: 10.1177/21925682231156124

Abstract

Study design: A single-center validation study.

Objective: To translate and cross-culturally adapt the AO Spine PROST (Patient Reported Outcome Spine Trauma) into German, and to test its psychometric properties among German-speaking Swiss spine trauma patients.

Methods: Patients were recruited from a level-1 Swiss trauma center. Next to the AO Spine PROST, the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire was used for concurrent validity. Questionnaires were filled out at two-time points for test-retest reliability. Patient characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics. For content validity, floor, and ceiling effects, as well as any irrelevant and missing questions were analyzed. Construct validity of the AO Spine PROST questionnaire to the EQ-5D-3L was tested using Spearman correlation tests.

Results: The AOSpine PROST was translated and adapted into German using established guidelines. We included 179 patients. The floor effect for all items was well within the optimal range (below 15%), while the ceiling effect of seven items was within the optimal range. None of the items displayed a problematic floor or ceiling effect. The overall test-retest reliability of the total PROST score was excellent, with an ICC of .83 (95% CI .69-.91). The Spearman correlation coefficient between the total PROST summary score and EQ-5D-3 L was ρ = .63.

Conclusions: The German version of the AO Spine PROST questionnaire demonstrated very good validity and reliability results.

Keywords: AO spine PROST; outcome instrument; patient perspective; spine trauma.