Measuring shoulder function: A systematic review of four questionnaires

To conduct a systematic review of the quality and content of the psychometric evidence relating to 4 shoulder disability scales: the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI), the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, and the Simple Shoulder Test (SST).

We conducted a structured search using 3 databases (Medline, CINAHL, EMBase). In total, 71 published primary studies were analyzed. A pair of raters conducted data extraction and critical appraisal using structured tools. A descriptive synthesis was performed.