Background  

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) insufficiency has not been assessed in comorbid-free patients to date. An observational study was therefore conducted on a practice-based sample to test the hypothesis that SF-36 scoring in patients with chronic ACL insufficiency differs from the age- and gender-matched Italian norm.

Materials and methods  

Chronically ACL-insufficient patients with or without meniscal and/or focal chondral lesions were enrolled in the study. Exclusion criteria were acute ACL tear, severe and diffuse chondral lesions, concomitant knee major ligamentous injuries and/or fractures requiring surgery, previous ACL surgery and infectious, neoplastic and inflammatory disease. Knee function was evaluated by International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) form, HRQoL with the SF-36 questionnaire, and associated medical comorbidities by a Self-Administered Comorbidity Questionnaire (SCQ).

Results  

A total of 316 consecutive patients, 265 males and 51 females (median age 25 years, range 15-22 years) met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. SF-36 norm-based scoring showed that the Physical Functioning, Role Physical, Bodily Pain, and Social Functioning domains were significantly lower than the Italian norm; the Role Emotional domain was also lower than the norm, but the difference was not significant. Conversely, the General Health and Mental Health domains scored significantly higher than the norm; the Vitality domain also exceeded, albeit not significantly, the norm.

Conclusions  

The decision-making process leading to ACL reconstruction currently emphasises the evaluation of knee function and patients-level of activity. The findings in our study, by showing that chronic ACL insufficiency significantly affects HRQoL in otherwise healthy patients, suggest that a multidimensional evaluation including HRQoL in addition to knee function might be integrated into outcome assessment.