• Florian Baumann, Toni Ernstberger, Markus Loibl, Florian Zeman, Michael Nerlich, and Carsten Tibesku.
• Department of Trauma Surgery, Regensburg University Medical Center, Regensburg, Germany. florian.baumann@ukr.de.
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2015 Dec 8.

PurposeEvaluation of further improvement in treatment of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee requires measurement tools with a high discriminatory power. In this context, joint awareness in everyday life is seen as crucial criterion. Purpose of this study was to adapt and validate a German version of the "Forgotten Joint Score" (FJS) according to the COSMIN checklist.MethodsWe evaluated a German translation of the FJS for reliability, validity and responsiveness according to the COSMIN checklist. Therefore, patients with an artificial knee joint completed the G-FJS questionnaire twice at intervals of at least 2 weeks. In addition, the Knee Society Score, the Oxford Knee Score, the Tegner Activity Scale, a Visual Analogue Scale, the EuroQol-5D (EQ 5-D), and a subjective assessment of the limitations were recorded.ResultsBetween June and December 2014, one hundred and five patients (average age 65.2 years) completed both questionnaires and were available for data analysis. Test-retest reliability of the FJS was high with an ICC = 0.80 (95 % CI 0.69, 0.90) and with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.95 (95 % CI 0.92, 0.99).ConclusionsThe German translation of the FJS is a viable tool for the postoperative monitoring after arthroplasty of the knee. This is the first study providing data on test-retest reliability of the FJS. The FJS is a reliable and valid measurement tool for evaluation of patient rated outcome in patients with an artificial knee joint.Level Of EvidenceValidating cohort study, Level 1b.

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