Patient-reported outcome measures following gynecomastia correction: a systematic review

Abstract

Background

A patient's perspective is usually measured by patient-reported outcome instruments, which are becoming increasingly relevant to current research on clinical outcomes. The aims of our review were to identify studies that evaluated patient satisfaction after gynecomastia correction, analyze existing questionnaires, and summarize the development, psychometric properties and content of the questionnaires.

Methods

A multistep search of the web-based PubMed database was performed. Each potential study was examined by 2 independent reviewers for adherence to inclusion/exclusion criteria. The identified studies were categorized by title, authors, date, study type, number of patients, surgical procedures, complications, mean age, mean duration of follow-up, and outcome measurements. We summarized all the questionnaires used.

Results

Our search generated a total of 711 articles; we selected 28 studies for further appraisal. Eight studies were excluded based on the content of the abstracts, and an additional 8 studies were excluded based on the content of the complete article. Thus, we performed a systematic review of the 12 remaining studies. All studies identified from the literature review were assessed to determine the type of surgery used and whether or not the questionnaire used to analyze patient satisfaction had been validated. A total of 847 patients were included in these studies, which reported more than 100 complications.

Conclusions

The rate of patient satisfaction was high, although most studies did not use validated or quantifiable evaluation methods for assessment of satisfaction. A new self-assessment tool, which should include functional, psycho-relational, and cosmetic components, is needed to measure satisfaction and quality of life in patients who have undergone gynecomastia correction.

Level of Evidence: Level III, therapeutic study