Validity and reliability of the SPORTS score

• DOI: 10.1007/s00167-011-1608-8
• Publication Date: 2011-07-19T14:48:32Z
• Authors: Davide Blonna; Filippo Castoldi; Davide Delicio; Matteo Bruzzone; Federico Dettoni; Davide Edoardo Bo...; Roberto Rossi
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Adolescent; Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction; Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; Reproducibility of Results; Knee Injuries; Recovery of Function; Middle Aged; Decision Support Techniques; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; Treatment Outcome; 0302 clinical medicine; Athletic Injuries; Health Status Indicators; Humans; Female; Anterior Cruciate Ligament; Anterior cruciate ligament; Function; Reliability; Score; Validity; Adolescent; Adult; Anterior Cruciate Ligament; Athletic Injuries; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Knee Injuries; Male; Middle Aged; Recovery of Function; Reproducibility of Results; Retrospective Studies; Treatment Outcome; Young Adult; Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction; Decision Support Techniques; Health Status Indicators; Orthopedics and Sports Medicine; Surgery; Follow-Up Studies; Retrospective Studies

AbstractPurposeSuccessful outcomes for an athlete usually consist of returning to their sport. The Subjective Patient Outcome for Return to Sports (SPORTS) score has been recently proposed as an easy to use score for evaluating an athlete’s ability to return to their sport. The aim of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the SPORTS score in athletes 5–10 years after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.MethodsA total of 47 athletes (average age 30, range 15–45), 5–10 years, after an anterior cruciate reconstruction were included in this study. Athletes were asked to complete the SPORTS score with an intermediate period of 2 weeks in order to measure reliability by using the Bland–Altman method and the ICC score. The criterion validity was assessed by calculating the Spearman correlation coefficient between the SPORTS score and Lysholm score, KOOS score and the SF‐36.ResultsThe SPORTS score showed excellent reliability (ICC = 0.967). The systematic error was 0 points (95% upper limit of agreement = 1.8 points). A strong correlation was found between the SPORTS score and the sports and recreation component on the KOOS score (r = 0.55, P < 0.001). The floor effect was 9% and the ceiling effect 32%.ConclusionThis study suggests that the SPORTS score is a valid and reliable tool to assess and quantify return to sport.Level of evidenceDiagnostic study, Level I.