Differential Compliance of Patient Reported Outcomes in a Multi-Center Hand and Wrist Surgery Registry in Switzerland.

Abstract

Outcome registries are essential for assessing treatment effectiveness in hand and wrist surgery, where both patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and clinician-reported outcome measures (CROMs) are commonly used. Consistent patient participation is critical for generating valid and generalizable data. This study investigates age- and gender-related differences in PROM compliance within a multi-center Swiss registry. Registry data from patients treated between 2020 and 2024 were analyzed. Patients were stratified by age (18-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, and 70+ years) and gender. Compliance with PROM completion was evaluated at baseline, 3 months, and 12 months post-treatment. PROM compliance declined over time, with the most pronounced decrease observed in the 18-30 age group (over 90% loss at 12 months). In contrast, the 61-70 age group showed the highest sustained compliance. Across all age categories, female patients demonstrated consistently higher completion rates than male patients. Compliance with PROMs varies significantly by age and gender, leading to potential data bias in outcome registries. Younger and male patients are underrepresented at follow-up, which may compromise the validity and generalizability of registry-based findings. Targeted interventions are needed to enhance participation among these groups and improve the quality of clinical outcome data.