ABSTRACT
Purpose: Prosthetic research seems focused on measuring gait-related outcomes that may not adequately measure real-world benefits of prosthetic interventions. Systematically cataloguing a comprehensive range of outcomes is an important steppingstone towards developing a holistic way to measure the benefits of prosthetic interventions for future health economic evaluations. The purpose of this research was to identify and catalogue the outcomes measured in lower-limb prosthetic research using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework and a custom clinical framework, and thereby describe the existing research focus and identify evidence gaps.
Materials and methods: A structured literature search identified systematic reviews of lower-limb prosthetic interventions. Reported outcomes were extracted from included studies and linked to the ICF- and clinical-frameworks.
Results: Of the 1297 extracted outcomes, 1060 were linked to the ICF framework. Most outcomes linked to second- (63.8%) or third-level categories (33.4%), such as Gait Pattern Functions (b770, 49.8%). Most of these outcomes (31.2%) describe temporospatial, kinematic or kinetic gait measures as categorised by the clinical framework.
Conclusions: Lower-limb prosthetic research is focused on laboratory-based measures of gait. There are evidence gaps describing participation in real-world activities – important outcomes to inform policy and investment decisions that determine the prosthetic interventions available for people with limb-loss
The purpose of this research was to identify and catalogue the outcomes measured in lower-limb prosthetic research using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework and a custom clinical framework, and thereby describe the existing research focus and identify evidence gaps.
ContributorsLeigh Clarke, Emily Ridgewell & Michael P. Dillon
Disease Category:
Disease Name: Prosthetic interventions
Age Range: Unknown
Sex: Either
Nature of Intervention: Device
- Systematic review of outcomes measured in trials
- Systematic review
The following databases were systematically searched through OVID: MEDLINE, AMED, Embase, and PsycINFO. Stand-alone searches were conducted using: Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR). A title, abstract, and keyword search used terms related to the intervention (e.g., prosthesis) and study design (i.e., systematic review) in preference to specific outcomes (e.g., HR-QoL) that would limit the search yield to a predefined outcome, and thus bias the search results. Synonyms and acronyms were used in combination with Boolean operators and wild cards. Specific MeSH and search terms (e.g., dentistry, breast) that have previously been tested were used to exclude unrelated literature and improve the precision of the yield. Searches were restricted to studies published in English over a 20-year period (1 January 2000 to 19 February 2020); a period appropriate to yield a large and representative sample of prosthetic research. Reference lists of included systematic reviews were hand searched and a forward citation search was undertaken using Google Scholar