New Publications
Li Y, Katzan IL, Thompson NR, Lapin B. No differential item functioning of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Global Health items by neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation. Value Health. 2026; published online December 17, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.jval.2025.12.012.
Li et al. examined whether PROMIS Global Health (PROMIS-GH) items function equivalently across levels of neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation. In a retrospective analysis of 157,212 adult primary care patients, no differential item functioning was found by Area Deprivation Index, age, sex, race, marital status, insurance, or comorbidities. At the same time, patients living in more disadvantaged neighborhoods reported significantly worse mental and physical health-related quality of life, averaging about 3.6 T-score points lower. These findings support the use of PROMIS-GH for valid comparisons across sociodemographic groups without evidence of meaningful measurement bias related to social disadvantage.
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Bess S, Line BG, Lafage V, et al; International Spine Study Group. PROMIS CAT outperforms legacy measures and demonstrates patient health domain normalization at minimum two-year follow-up after adult spine deformity surgery.Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2026;51(7):451-467. doi:10.1097/BRS.0000000000005522.
Bess et al. examined whether PROMIS computer adaptive testing (CAT) captures long-term health-related quality-of-life outcomes after adult spinal deformity surgery better than legacy measures. In a prospective multicenter cohort with minimum two-year follow-up, both PROMIS and legacy scores improved significantly after surgery. PROMIS CAT also showed better floor and ceiling effects, suggesting greater sensitivity across outcome ranges. Before surgery, most patients reported moderate to severe deficits across PROMIS domains, whereas by follow-up many had scores within normal or mildly impaired ranges. Social health domains improved the most, highlighting the importance of assessing social participation in addition to pain and physical function.
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Engert LC, Dang R, Daniel S, et al. Sleep disturbance affects inflammatory resolution in Long COVID. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2026;208:102728. doi:10.1016/j.plefa.2026.102728.
Engert et al. examined whether sleep disturbance influences inflammatory resolution in Long COVID. In a pilot cohort of 39 adults, including 31 with Long COVID and 8 infected controls without Long COVID, participants with Long COVID reported greater sleep disturbance and showed evidence of altered lipid mediator pathways. Long COVID was associated with higher levels of the pro-inflammatory mediator PGE2, while those with high sleep disturbance had lower levels of several specialized pro-resolving mediators, including 17-HDHA, 17R/S-RvD1, 15R-LXB4, and PD1n-3 DPA. The findings suggest that sleep disturbance may worsen persistent inflammation in Long COVID by impairing inflammatory resolution.
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James S, Lolacher L, Hodge K, Slavec J, Draper A, McPhate N, Houghton K, Guzman J, Tucker L. Mental health screening in pediatric rheumatology: a feasibility study. Pediatr Rheumatol Online J. 2025 Nov 19;23(1):117. doi: 10.1186/s12969-025-01166-4. PMID: 41258048; PMCID: PMC12628978.
The authors examined the feasibility of adding mental screening to routine care in a pediatric rheumatology clinic. Patients aged 8-17 electronically completed PROMIS Pediatric Anxiety v3.0 8a and Pediatric depression v3.0 8a, and both the child and their parent/guardian completed a brief acceptability survey. Patients were provided with resources based on their scores. Rheumatologists also completed a brief practicality questionnaire to assess their perspectives of feasibility. OUt of 44 patients, six had high anxiety scores, and two had high depression scores. Generally, responses were positive in terms of patient and parent/guardian acceptability, and most rheumatologists felt the mental health screening was worthwhile.
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Mermin Z, Olson KR, Gallagher NM. Establishing Normative Anxiety and Depression Levels With PROMIS Parent Proxy Measures. Assessment. 2025 Nov 20:10731911251385766. doi: 10.1177/10731911251385766. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41263198.
The authors aimed to define normative anxiety and depression using the Parent Proxy v3.0 Anxiety and Depression measures to further assist with score interpretation. The findings generally support the PROMIS v3.0 scoring with some decrease in score variability compared to what would be expected. The authors also provide information on score percentiles by gender and age group.
Zelicha H, Weitzner ZN, Park S, Babb TG, Bernhardt V, Ahmad FS, Cella D, Chen Y, Livingston EH. Improvement in breathlessness following bariatric surgery as measured by a new heart failure-specific health-related quality of life instrument: a prospective longitudinal study. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2025 Oct 10:S1550-7289(25)00955-4. doi: 10.1016/j.soard.2025.09.014. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41241567.
The authors examined use of a 27-item PROMIS Profile developed for those with heart failure in a population with obesity undergoing primary bariatric surgery. Patients completed the measure before surgery and 1 year after surgery. The measured domains included dyspnea, fatigue, physical function, sleep disturbance, pain interference, depression, cognitive function, and ability to participate in social roles and activities. The profile measure was able to detect improvements in multiple domains after surgery. In particular, dyspnea affected most patients before surgery and was significantly improved after surgery.