Previous Knee Injury and Health-Related Quality of Life in Collegiate Athletes.

Abstract

Patient-rated outcome measures (PROMs) capture changes that are important and meaningful to patients, such as health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Although group differences in HRQOL have been reported, little is known about the effect of injury history on HRQOL in collegiate athletes. To determine whether knee-specific function (International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Evaluation Form [IKDC]) and HRQOL (Short Form 12 [SF-12]) differs in collegiate athletes based on sex and the severity of a previous knee injury. Cross-sectional study. Athletic training facilities. Healthy collegiate athletes (n = 263) were grouped based on self-report of a previous knee injury: severe (n = 47), mild (n = 40), and no (n = 176) knee injury. Participants completed the IKDC and SF-12 during their preparticipation examinations. Generalized linear models were used to assess interactions and main effects of all scores. An interaction effect was observed for the SF-12 role physical subscale (P = .02), with men in the mild- and severe-injury groups reporting worse scores than men with no injury history. We noted a main effect for injury group for the IKDC total score (P < .001) and SF-12 physical functioning (P = .04) and role emotional (P = .04) subscales, with the severe-injury group reporting worse scores than the mild- and no-injury groups. No main effects of sex were reported (P > .05). Despite returning to full participation, collegiate athletes who previously sustained severe knee injuries tended to report worse knee-specific function and less ability to complete activities due to physical health. In addition, individuals with a history of severe knee injury tended to report more emotional concerns than athletes with a history of mild or no knee injury. Region-specific PROMs may be more sensitive in detecting deficits than generic PROMs after return to full participation. Researchers should investigate the role of PROMs, particularly region-specific PROMs, as potential screening tools for clinical care.