Validation of the Danish version of Oxford Shoulder Score.

Introduction: The Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) is a patient-administered condition-specific questionnaire for patients with degenerative or inflammatory shoulder disease. The purpose of this study was to validate a Danish translation of the OSS and to compare it with the Constant Score (CS).

Material and methods: A total of 102 consecutive patients referred to our shoulder unit were recruited for the study. The OSS was translated into Danish according to recommendations presented by Guillemin and co-workers. We established the psychometric properties of the scoring system. Test-retest reliability was assessed by inviting 32 patients to complete another OSS 72 hours after the first test. The Bland-Altman plot was used to show absolute differences between test and retest.

Results: The validity expressed as a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient comparing the OSS with the CS was 0.74. The test-retest reliability correlation coefficient was 0.98. Bland-Altman plots revealed limits of agreement between the scores of -4.5 and -5.4. Internal consistency tested by Cronbach's alpha was 0.93.

Conclusion: The psychometric properties of the Danish version of OSS showed good validity and reliability with a substantial correlation between the OSS and the CS. Internal consistency was high. The OSS is recommended for the evaluation of patients with degenerative or post-traumatic shoulder diseases.

Funding: not relevant.

Trial registration: not relevant.