A team of researchers set out to determine if the sophistication of a person’s lower-limb prosthesis was associated with mobility and/or mobility satisfaction, and if the associations differed by amputation level. They found that prosthesis sophistication was not associated with achieving advanced mobility in the participants with transtibial amputations, but it was associated with greater mobility satisfaction. In contrast, prosthesis sophistication was associated with achieving advanced mobility in the participants with transfemoral amputations but not with an increase in mobility satisfaction.
The researchers identified 347 participants through the Veterans Administration Corporate Data Warehouse and the National Prosthetics Patient Database and prospectively collected self-reported patient outcomes through mailings and phone calls. Participants had undergone an amputation due to diabetes and/or peripheral artery disease and received a qualifying lower-limb prosthesis between March 1, 2018, and November 30, 2020.
Basic, intermediate, and advanced prosthesis sophistication was measured by the PROClass system. The main outcome measure was patient-reported mobility using the advanced mobility subscale of the Locomotor Capabilities Index-5.
According to the study, the data indicated that the participants who received intermediate or advanced prostheses were more likely to achieve advanced mobility than those who received basic prostheses, with intermediate nearing statistical significance at nearly twice the odds. The association was strongest in the participants with transfemoral amputations, with over ten times the odds. The use of an intermediate sophistication prosthesis relative to a basic prosthesis was significantly associated with mobility satisfaction. A statistically significant association was only observed in those who underwent a transtibial amputation.
The study, “The effect of prosthetic limb sophistication and amputation level on self-reported mobility and satisfaction with mobility,” was published in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
