A team of researchers conducted a cross-sectional survey study of 698 veterans with major upper-limb amputations to quantify the relationship between the timing of initial prosthesis receipt and continued prosthesis use, hours of use, and satisfaction.
The researchers used logistic regression to examine relationships between receipt timing, prosthesis use, and odds of using a prosthesis for at least eight hours a day and linear regression to examine the relationship between receipt timing and scores on the Trinity Amputation and Prosthetic Experience Satisfaction Scale satisfaction scale. They controlled for potential confounders including age, gender, amputation level, race, ethnicity, amputation etiology, time from injury to amputation, years since amputation, and prosthesis type.
The results indicated that the odds of current prosthesis use were lower with prosthesis receipt within six to 12 months and more than 12 months compared with three to six months. Trinity Amputation and Prosthetic Experience Satisfaction Scale scores were -0.22 points lower for receipt within six to12 months. Receipt timing was not associated with hours per day of prosthesis use.
The open-access study, “The association between upper limb prosthesis receipt timing and prosthesis adoption and satisfaction: Findings from a cross-sectional study,” was published in Prosthetics & Orthotics International.
