Reliability, Validity, and Responsiveness of the Chinese Version of the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) in Patients with Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Mainland China.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to perform a cross-cultural adaption of the KOOS into Chinese and to evaluate its psychometric properties in patients with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL reconstruction) in mainland China.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Patients completed the Chinese version of the KOOS and the SF-36 questionnaire three times. We evaluated the reliability, checked the validity, and assessed the responsiveness.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 42 patients who had undergone ACL reconstruction.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The results of the questionnaire survey.

RESULTS

The Chinese version of the KOOS was well accepted, with ideal test-retest reliability and internal consistency. The test-retest reliability was significant, with high ICC values ranging from 0.888 to 0.941. Additionally, we found that the internal consistency was adequate, with Cronbach's alpha coefficient ranging from 0.740 to 0.975. All a priori hypotheses were supported by a high correlation between the KOOS and SF-36. Furthermore, responsiveness was demonstrated since the ES and SRM between subscales following ACL reconstruction was found in the expected pattern.

CONCLUSIONS

The Chinese version of the KOOS showed psychometric properties demonstrating acceptable reliability and validity similar to the original version. We conclude that the Chinese version is a reliable and valid instrument for research and clinical assessments of ACL reconstruction patients in mainland China.