PURPOSE: Surgery requires resilience when recovering from pain, time off work, and therapy. GRIT is defined as "perseverance and passion for long-term goals" and its relationship to outcomes after surgery has not been well studied. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between GRIT obtained at 1-year follow-up and self-reported upper extremity physical function as measured via the QuickDASH questionnaire among patients undergoing thumb carpometacarpal arthroplasty.
METHODS: A retrospective chart review was completed for patients who underwent thumb carpometacarpal arthroplasty from 2022 to 2024. Patients completed the eight-question GRIT Scale, a validated measure of passion and perseverance for long-term goals, summarized on a scale of 1 (least GRIT) to 5 (most GRIT). QuickDASH scores were collected before surgery and after surgery at 6 weeks, at 3 months, and at 1 year after surgery. Correlations between GRIT Scale and changes in QuickDASH scores were assessed using Spearman correlation coefficients.
RESULTS: Eighty patients (54 females and 26 males) were included, with an average age of 65.8 (SD = 7.6). The mean GRIT score was 3.9 (SD = 0.6). QuickDASH score was 44.7 ± 16.2 presurgery and 24.5 ± 18.3 at 1 year or more postsurgery. The number of patients with a decrease in QuickDASH from baseline ≥12 (the minimal clinically important difference) was 10 (13%) at 6 weeks, 35 (45%) at 3 months, and 54 (68%) at 12 months postoperatively. Spearman correlation analyses demonstrated no significant associations between GRIT and QuickDASH scores at individual postoperative time points. However, in an adjusted linear mixed effects model, higher GRIT scores were independently associated with lower QuickDASH scores by 4.21 points, when accounting for age, gender, smoking status, hand dominance, and time from surgery.
CONCLUSIONS: Higher GRIT scores were associated with statistically lower postoperative QuickDASH scores in adjusted analyses; however, the magnitude of this association was below the reported minimal clinically important difference. Future studies are needed to investigate the association between individual differences in character traits and patient outcomes to better align resources and further the ability to deliver individualized, quality health care.
TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic IV.
