Normative data for the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot, midfoot, hallux and lesser toes clinical rating system.

PURPOSE

Despite some theoretical reservations, the AOFAS clinical rating system with its scales for ankle-hindfoot, midfoot, hallux and lesser toes is one of the most widely used assessment tools in foot and ankle surgery. This study was designed to generate age- and gender-related norm values for all four subscales.

METHODS

Despite not being used in a self-administered manner, the AOFAS score underwent cross cultural adaptation to guarantee unrestricted comparability of data. A data pool was generated using the results of personal interviews and clinical examination of 625 individuals, including staff and visitors to our hospital, and excluding people scheduled for foot surgery or in after-treatment. These data served as a basis to calculate all four parts of the AOFAS clinical rating system.

RESULTS

Mean value for the ankle-hindfoot scale was calculated as 91.6 points (±0.9 confidence interval), and 89.3 points for the midfoot scale (±1.0 CI), 88.3 for the hallux metatarsophalangeal-interphalangeal scale (± 0.9 CI) and 91.0 for the lesser metatarsophalangeal-interphalangeal scale (± 0.8 CI). Results showed a decrease with age in all four scales. Males showed better results than females. Individuals with previous surgery showed lower results in the respective score.

CONCLUSIONS

While lowered scoring results prior to surgery reflect the degree of restrictions due to pain, function and alignment problems, post-operative increases in clinical scoring should indicate return to age-related norm values. Our data calculated these norm values for the first time for all four AOFAS scales, giving a basis for better interpretation of published results in foot and ankle surgery. Our data showed and quantified the decrease of norm values with age, especially for hallux and lesser toes scores, as well as lower norm values for females and for individuals that had had surgery of the foot.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level I, diagnostic study.