A Systematic Review of the Outcomes Used to Assess Upper Body Lymphedema

Purpose: To ascertain how change in upper body lymphedema is assessed and understand how clinically significant change is determined.
Method: A systematic search of the literature resulted in 55 eligible studies for analysis.
Results: A range of assessment methods, measurement protocols, and outcomes were used in the literature. Of the 21 studies in which thresholds for change were set a priori, 20 different thresholds were reported.
Conclusion: How data was measured, analysed and reported was inconsistent across studies. Consensus on a core outcome set with standardised assessment protocols and reporting; and investigation into empirically based minimum important differences (MID) is needed.