Responsiveness of the Victorian Institute for Sport Assessment for Gluteal Tendinopathy (VISA-G), modified Harris hip and Oxford hip scores in patients undergoing hip abductor tendon repair.

BACKGROUND: A lack of consensus exists on which patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) best evaluate change following hip abductor tendon (HAT) repair. OBJECTIVES: To compare the responsiveness of the Victorian Institute for Sport Assessment for Gluteal Tendinopathy (VISA-G), Oxford Hip (OHS) and modified Harris Hip (mHHS) scores in patients undergoing HAT repair. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective case series. METHODS: 56 patients underwent HAT repair and were evaluated pre-surgery and 3, 6 and 12 months post-operatively using the VISA-G, OHS, mHHS and a Global Rating of Change (GRC) scale. Internal and external responsiveness, the minimal clinically important change (MIC) and the presence of ceiling effects were evaluated. The extent to which VISA-G change was associated with mHHS and OHS change was investigated, as was the extent to which PROM changes were discriminatory for GRC improvement. RESULTS: All PROMs demonstrated large standardized effect sizes (>1), with the VISA-G demonstrating responsiveness similar to the mHHS and OHS. At 12 months, the GRC correlated similarly with VISA-G (0.42, 95% CI: 0.17-0.61), mHHS (0.44, 95% CI: 0.17-0.61) and OHS (0.53, 95% CI: 0.31-0.70) changes. Using a GRC anchor of ≥4, an MIC of 29/100, 29/91 (32/100) and 16/48 (33/100) was observed for the VISA-G, mHHS and OHS, respectively. At 12 months ceiling effects existed for the mHHS (18/56, 32.1%) and OHS (13/56, 23.2%), but not VISA-G (1/56, 1.8%). CONCLUSION: The VISA-G demonstrated acceptable responsiveness and was more resistant to ceiling effects, though demonstrated similar change scores and correlations with perceived improvement to the mHHS and OHS. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: This research trial is registered in the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12616001655437).