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

Abstract

Context:  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. Objective:  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. Design:  Cross-sectional study. Setting:  Athletic training facilities. Patients or Other Participants:  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. Intervention(s):  Participants completed the IKDC and SF-12 during their preparticipation examinations. Main Outcome Measure(s):  Generalized linear models were used to assess interactions and main effects of all scores. Results:  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). Conclusions:  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.