Outcome of Hand Trauma: The Hand Injury Severity Scoring System (HISS) and Subsequent Impairment and Disability

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate correlations between the hand injury severity scoring system (HISS) and measures of impairment and disability obtained 6 months after a hand injury. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the severity of the injury (HISS) and residual impairment, as measured with the American Medical Association's (AMA) "Guides to the evaluation of permanent impairment, 4th edition". No statistically significant correlation was found between the severity of the injury (HISS) and the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, which measures disability from the patient's perspective. There was however a statistically significant correlation between AMA total body impairment measured and the results of the DASH questionnaire. The results indicate the potential of the HISS for predicting the final impairment after hand injuries.

To What Degree Do Pain-coping Strategies Affect Joint Stiffness and Functional Outcomes in Patients with Hand Fractures?

“…The relationship between HISS and the functional outcome after hand fracture surgery has been controversial. Some studies have reported a strong correlation between HISS and patientreported outcomes [12,19], whereas others have not shown any statistically significant correlation [15]. In the current study, HISS was associated with a decrease in QuickDASH scores up to a 6-month followup.…”

Hand injury from powered wood splitters

“…[17,41,48,49] In our material we found a correlation between the DASH score and the HISS (SRCC 0.336, p<0.001, n = 96) and also between the DASH score and HISS grade (SRCC 0.301, p = 0.002, n = 107). Although these correlations were weak, they indicate that the more severe the initial wood splitter injury, the worse the outcome.…”

“…[30] Mink van der Molen et al found that HISS was correlated to the degree of impairment resulting from hand injury assessed according to the American Medical Association (AMA) guidelines. [20,41] An obvious limitation of the HISS system is that injuries proximal to the CMC joints are not included. This excludes many of the more severe hand injuries which often have a proximal component.…”

Study on Evaluation and Management of Hand Injuries

“…These studies reported more than 50% of injuries to the dominant hand. 1,3 However, Mink and colleagues 10 observed dominant hand injuries in about 37% of their sample. In this study, 12% had a hand injury in combination with other injuries, which was in contrast with another study in which 4% had combined injuries.…”