Osteoarthritis often causes functional impairment limiting usual activities until it becomes a real handicap. The evaluation and monitoring of functional impairment calls for the use of different validated and relevant tools specific to the affected joints.
Overall evaluation: the EMIR score
The EMIR score, a scale for measuring impact in rheumatology, is used to evaluate the overall impact of osteoarthritis on your patient over the past four weeks, regardless of location of the disease.
It contains 12 sections each with five questions that the patient fills in alone. It incorporates, in large part, the items and terms of the general quality of life questionnaire SF36. The short version (26 questions) shows identical performances to the original scale.
It explores five dimensions: physical capacities, psychological capacities, symptoms, work and social relationships. The answers are qualitative. The score ranges from 0 (optimum quality of life) to 10 (maximum deterioration of the quality of life).
[ Survey ] - NB, please tick only one box per question.
Pouchot j, Guillemin F, Coste J et al. J Rheumatol 1996 ; 23(1) : 52-60.
Functional Disability Scale for the Evaluation of Low Back Pain: The EIFEL score (Roland Morris)
Easy to complete by patients themselves, it includes 24 items.
The higher the score, the greater the repercussions of back pain are significant. A change in at least 4 points is needed for considering a clinical change not a random occurrence.
[ Survey ] - NB, please tick only one box per question.
Dreiser Functional Index for arthropathies of the hand
This is a simple functional index, reproducible, sensitive to change. It includes 10 questions about activities or actions of daily life with four answer levels (0 to 3). The total score ranges from 0 (no functional difficulty) to 30.
[ Survey ] - NB, please tick only one box per question.
Dreiser R.-L., Maheu E., Guillou G. B., Caspard H., Grouin J.-M. Revue du Rhumatisme 1995, vol. 62 :129S-139S.
Lequesne algofunctional indexes for knee and hip osteoarthritis
They assess pain at rest and walking, walking distance and functional impairment. They are used in conjunction with the VAS of pain, to assess the impact of knee osteoarthritis and the evolution of the disability over time, and to assess therapeutic results and determine the threshold beyond which a prosthesis can be considered (index ≥ 10-12).
The score ranges from 0 to 24.
Interpretation
| Score | Functional embarrassment |
| 14 points and over | Extremely severe |
| 11 to 13 points | Very significant |
| 8 to 10 points | Significant |
| 5 to 7 points | Moderate |
| 1 to 4 points | Minimal |
[ Survey (knee) ] - NB, please tick only one box per question.
[ Survey (hip) ] - NB, please tick only one box per question.
Lequesne M, Mery C, Samson M, Gérard P. Indexes of severity for osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. Scand J Rheumatol, 1987, 65 : 85-89
In this category
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Evaluation scores
Pain evaluation
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Evaluation scores
Clinical examination
