COMET Initiative | Outcome measurement instruments for adult brachial plexus injury: a systematic review of development and measurement properties

Outcome measurement instruments for adult brachial plexus injury: a systematic review of development and measurement properties

Purpose: To review candidate outcome measurement instruments (OMIs) for the core outcome set (COS) for brachial plexus injury (BPI) and identify those with the strongest measurement properties.

Methods: We conducted a PRISMA-compliant systematic review to identify studies on the measurement properties of domain-specific OMIs for adult BPI. OMIs with adequate content validity were further evaluated. Two independent reviewers assessed the methodological quality of each study using the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist and assessed overall quality using a modified GRADE approach.

Results: Nineteen development/validation studies concerning nine OMIs were identified. The Brachial Assessment Tool (BrAT) and the Impact of Brachial Plexus Injury Questionnaire (IMBPIQ) (both measuring carrying out daily routine) had sufficient content validity to proceed to full evaluation. The BrAT had moderate quality evidence to support its psychometric properties. The IMBPIQ needs further research to evidence structural validity and internal consistency. The Brief Pain Inventory has strong psychometric properties in other populations and is recommended for the core measurement set (CMS) for chronic pain.

Conclusions: The BrAT and the Brief Pain Inventory are recommended for inclusion in the BPI CMS. Further consensus work is needed to identify the most appropriate OMI for voluntary movement.

Contributors

Caroline Miller, Jane Cross, Jack Jeffrey, Christina Jerosch-Herold

Publication

Journal: Disability and Rehabilitation
Volume:
Issue:
Pages: -
Year: 2025
DOI: 10.1080/09638288.2025.2456588

Further Study Information

Current Stage: Completed
Date:
Funding source(s): caroline Miller, clinical Doctoral Research Fellow (ica-cDRF-2017-03-039) was funded by health education england (hee)/Nationalinstitute for health Research (NihR) for this research project.

Health Area

Disease Category: Orthopaedics & trauma

Disease Name: Traumatic brachial plexus injury

Target Population

Age Range: 18 - 120

Sex: Either

Nature of Intervention: Any

Stakeholders Involved

Study Type

- Recommendations for outcome measures (measurement/how)
- Systematic review of outcome measures/measurement instruments

Method(s)

- Systematic review

We conducted a PRISMA-compliant systematic review to identify studies on the measurement properties of domain-specific OMIs for adult BPI. OMIs with adequate content validity were further evaluated. Two independent reviewers assessed the methodological quality of each study using the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist and assessed overall quality using a modified GRADE approach.