OBJECTIVE -The purpose of this study was to develop a questionnaire that measures patients' perceptions of the impact of diabetic peripheral neuropathy and foot ulcers on their quality of life and to assess the psychometric properties of this instrument in a sample of patients with varying severity and symptomatology of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -The neuropathy-and foot ulcer-specific quality of life instrument (NeuroQoL), generated from interviews with patients with (n ϭ 47) and without (n ϭ 15) diabetic peripheral neuropathy, was administered to 418 consecutive patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (35% with foot ulcer history) attending either U.K. (n ϭ 290) or U.S. (n ϭ 128) diabetes centers. Psychometric tests of NeuroQoL included factor analyses and internal consistency of scales; a series of multivariate analyses were performed to establish its criterion, construct, and incremental validity. Results were compared with those obtained using the Short Form (SF)-12 measure of health-related functioning.RESULTS -Factor analyses of NeuroQoL revealed three physical symptom measures and two psychosocial functioning measures with good reliability (␣ ϭ 0.86 -0.95). NeuroQoL was more strongly associated with measures of neuropathic severity than SF-12, more fully mediated the relationship of diabetic peripheral neuropathy with overall quality of life, and significantly increased explained variance in overall quality of life over SF-12.CONCLUSIONS -NeuroQoL reliably captures the key dimensions of the patients' experience of diabetic peripheral neuropathy and is a valid tool for studying the impact of neuropathy and foot ulceration on quality of life.

High-volume centers and surgeons specializing in such procedures had superior results following unicondylar knee replacement compared with their low-volume counterparts. These results suggest that centers and surgeons should undertake a minimum of thirteen such procedures per year to achieve results comparable with the high-volume operators.

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are increasingly being used to assess functional outcome and patient satisfaction. They provide a framework for comparisons between surgical units, and individual surgeons for benchmarking and financial remuneration. Better performance may bring the reward of more customers as patients and commissioners seek out high performers for their elective procedures. Using National Joint Registry (NJR) data linked to PROMs we identified 22,691 primary total knee replacements (TKRs) undertaken for osteoarthritis in England and Wales between August 2008 and February 2011, and identified the surgical factors that influenced the improvements in the Oxford knee score (OKS) and EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) assessment using multiple regression analysis. After correction for patient factors the only surgical factors that influenced PROMs were implant brand and hospital type (both p < 0.001). However, the effects of surgical factors upon the PROMs were modest compared with patient factors. For both the OKS and the EQ-5D the most important factors influencing the improvement in PROMs were the corresponding pre-operative score and the patient's general health status. Despite having only a small effect on PROMs, this study has shown that both implant brand and hospital type do influence reported subjective functional scores following TKR. In the current climate of financial austerity, proposed performance-based remuneration and wider patient choice, it would seem unwise to ignore these effects and the influence of a range of additional patient factors.

The improvements in patient-reported outcome measures experienced by patients were similar, irrespective of body mass index. Health policy should be based on the overall improvements in function and general health gained through surgery. Obese patients should not be excluded from the benefit of total knee arthroplasty, given that their overall improvements were equivalent to those of patients with a lower body mass index.

Reed, M.R. (2013) 'Independent predictors of failure up to 7.5 years after 35 386 single-brand cementless total hip replacements : a retrospective cohort study using National Joint Registry data.', Bone joint journal : orthopaedic proceedings supplement, 95-B (6). pp. 747-757. Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.1302/0301-620X. 95B6.31378 Publisher's copyright statement:Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.