Responsiveness of the Self-Administered Foot Evaluation Questionnaire (SAFE-Q) in patients with hallux valgus.

BACKGROUND

In this study, we investigated the responsiveness of the Self-Administered Foot Evaluation Questionnaire (SAFE-Q) for patient's assessment before and after hallux valgus surgery.

METHODS

Patient-reported answers on the SAFE-Q and Short Form-36 (SF-36) before and at a mean of 3-4 and 9-12 months after hallux valgus surgery were analyzed. Data of 100 patients (92 women, eight men) from 36 institutions throughout Japan were used for analysis.

RESULTS

In all subscales of the SAFE-Q, the trend of increased scores after surgery was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Among the patients with available scores both before and at 9-12 months after surgery (n = 66), the largest effect sizes (ESs) were observed for shoe-related (1.60), pain and pain-related (1.05), and general health and well-being (0.84) scales. In the SF-36 (n = 64), the largest ES was observed for the bodily pain scale (0.86). Less notable changes were observed for the remaining SF-36 domains.

CONCLUSION

The SAFE-Q is the first patient-reported outcome measure which includes a quality of life assessment of shoes. In our cohort, the most remarkable responsiveness was observed for the shoe-related subscale. Based on its responsiveness, the SAFE-Q appears to be sufficient for evaluation of foot-related quality of life before and after surgery.