Clinical trial NCT02672046: Optimized Referral of Knee Patients at the Clinic of Sports Injuries
Official title: Danish Title: Optimeret Visitation af Midaldrende knæpatienter Med Symptomer Muligvis Relateret Til Meniskskade
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Knee Injuries
Knee; Injury, Meniscus (Lateral) (Medial)
Lead sponsor: Central Jutland Regional Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Aarhus
First posted: 2016-02-03
Enrollment: 182
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 35
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Middle aged patients with knee symptoms referred to the Clinic of Sports Injuries

Brief summary: The aim of the study is to evaluate an algorithm to screen patients with a possibility of meniscal injury referred to a sports injury outpatient clinic by using patient-reported symptoms. It will be investigated whether the algorithm is able to identify which patients are deemed relevant to undergo assessment by a physician (i.e. in case the patient need to undergo surgery) and which patients are relevant to undergo assessment by a physiotherapist. This will be evaluated by estimating the sensitivity of the new algorithm compared to actual relevancy based on the traditional clinical assessment of the patients.

Detailed description: According to current practice, patients referred to the Clinic of Sports Injuries will be assessed by either a physician or a physiotherapist. Current practice will continue unchanged during this study.

Before the scheduled assessment, patients will be asked to fulfill a questionnaire including KOOS, a further description of symptoms, previous treatment by physiotherapist and expected upcoming treatment (i.e. surgery or referral to physiotherapist).

An algorithm based on the self-reported information will be used to categorize whether the patient are considered relevant to be referred to assessment by a physician or to assessment by a physiotherapist.

After clinical assessment of the patient, the physician or physiotherapist does a registration of diagnosis, choice of treatment and complexity. Based on choice of treatment and complexity, the patient will be categorized as either relevant to be referred to assessment by a physician or to assessment by a physiotherapist. This categorization is by definition considered correct.

The ability of the algorithm will be evaluated by comparing it's categorization to the correct result. Sensitivity will be estimated.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients above the age of 35 referred to the Clinic of Sports Injuries with knee symptoms

Exclusion Criteria:

* Cognitive or language problems that precludes the filling of the questionnaires
* Previous surgery in the knee
* Symptoms only located in the anterior part of the knee

Primary outcomes:
measure: "Relevant referral to assessment by physician" or "Relevant referral to assessment by physiotherapist"
timeFrame: Up to 4 weeks (at the initial visit at the Clinic of Sports Injuries)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS)
timeFrame: At baseline
Other outcomes:
measure: Choice of treatment
timeFrame: Up to 4 weeks (at the initial visit at the Clinic of Sports Injuries)
Locations:
city: Silkeborg
country: Denmark
facility: Silkeborg Regional Hospital
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Aarhus
name: Merete Nørgaard Madsen, PT
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: