Considerations of throwing athletes with upper extremity injury when completing the Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation (SANE).

Abstract

CONTEXT The Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation (SANE) is a widely used patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure that provides an efficient, but limited view of patient perceptions of health. Knowledge of what throwing athletes with upper extremity injury consider when answering the SANE would inform score interpretation and increase its value for clinical decision-making in this patient population. OBJECTIVE To investigate the global rating of the SANE and its ability to capture constructs of health reflected in patient-reported outcome measures that are commonly used in throwing athletes with upper extremity sport-related injury. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Retrospective database review. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS De-identified patient records of baseball and softball athletes diagnosed with upper extremity sport-related injury between October 2009 and June 2021 were reviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Primary outcomes were scores on the SANE; Functional Arm Scale for Throwers (FAST) total; Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) total; and Global Rating of Daily Activities (GRODA). The first administration of all PROs that patients completed post-injury were analyzed as potential predictors of SANE scores. The proportion of variance uniquely accounted for in the SANE by each predictor (R2) variable was estimated. RESULTS Fifty-five patients completed PRO measures. The FAST total uniquely accounted for 32.9% (P <.001), the GRODA uniquely accounted for 11.6% (P <.001), and the DASH total uniquely accounted for 4.6% (P=.036) of the variance in the SANE score. Overall, the predictors accounted for 49.2% of the variance in the SANE score (P <.001). CONCLUSIONS Given that the SANE captures multiple constructs of health, it may be useful in gathering a quick, broad view of throwing athletes' perception of their health. When SANE scores suggest diminished health, then multi-item PROs should be considered to further explore constructs of health most impacted.