The Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS): from joint injury to osteoarthritis

• Published in: Health and quality of life outcomes Vol. 1; no. 1; p. 64
• Main Authors: Roos, Ewa M, Lohmander, L Stefan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 03-11-2003; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy; Health Sciences; Humans; Hälso- och sjukvårdsorganisation, hälsopolitik och hälsoekonomi; Hälsovetenskap; Knee Injuries - complications; Knee Injuries - therapy; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Osteoarthritis, Knee - etiology; Pain Measurement; Psychometrics; Quality of Life; Reproducibility of Results; Review; Surveys and Questionnaires; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 1477-7525; 1477-7525
• DOI: 10.1186/1477-7525-1-64

The Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) was developed as an extension of the WOMAC Osteoarthritis Index with the purpose of evaluating short-term and long-term symptoms and function in subjects with knee injury and osteoarthritis. The KOOS holds five separately scored subscales: Pain, other Symptoms, Function in daily living (ADL), Function in Sport and Recreation (Sport/Rec), and knee-related Quality of Life (QOL). The KOOS has been validated for several orthopaedic interventions such as anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, meniscectomy and total knee replacement. In addition the instrument has been used to evaluate physical therapy, nutritional supplementation and glucosamine supplementation. The effect size is generally largest for the subscale QOL followed by the subscale Pain. The KOOS is a valid, reliable and responsive self-administered instrument that can be used for short-term and long-term follow-up of several types of knee injury including osteoarthritis. The measure is relatively new and further use of the instrument will add knowledge and suggest areas that need to be further explored and improved.