Minimal clinically important difference (mcid) in maxillofacial trauma patients: a prospective cohort study

The present study estimated the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of pain on VAS-NRS and mean bite force (MBF) in patients treated for maxillofacial trauma (MFT). This cohort study included 120 MFT patients treated according to AO principles. The preoperative and 4-week postoperative pain on VAS-NRS and MBF were measured for calculating MCID as indicators of functional rehabilitation. The patient’s perspective of the treatment was assessed using a 4-item anchor question. MCID was determined by two anchor-based approaches, namely, the change difference (CD) method and Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve method. The MCID of pain was 2.4 and MBF was 147.9N by the CD method. Based on the ROC curve, the MCID of pain was 2.5 (sensitivity 91.7%, specificity 47.2%) and MBF was 159.1N (sensitivity 71.4%, specificity 61.1%). This study demonstrated a high sensitivity (>70%) for MCID, which implies that pain reduction of 2.4 -2.5 points on VAS-NRS and a gain in MBF by 147.9-159.1N is clinically relevant for patients treated for MFT.