PROMIS Global Health (PROMIS-10) is a brief, generic measure of overall physical and mental health. This page explains what PROMIS Global is, what it measures, the items it contains, how it is scored, and how it is used.
What is PROMIS Global Health?
PROMIS Global Health, often called PROMIS-10 or the PROMIS Global-10, is a ten-item, patient-reported measure of general health-related quality of life. It was developed as part of the NIH-funded Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) initiative, with the two summary scores derived and reported by Hays and colleagues. Because it is generic, it can be used across many conditions and clinical settings, and several of its items were adapted from legacy measures such as the SF-36 and EQ-5D.
What does PROMIS Global measure?
PROMIS Global Health produces two summary scores: Global Physical Health (GPH) and Global Mental Health (GMH). Together the items assess overall physical health, physical function, pain, fatigue, general mental health, emotional distress, social health, and overall quality of life. There is no single combined total; the physical and mental summaries are reported separately.
What questions are included in PROMIS Global?
The ten items ask respondents to rate, in general, their overall health, quality of life, physical health, mental health, satisfaction with social activities and relationships, and ability to carry out usual social activities and physical activities, along with items on fatigue, emotional problems, and pain. Nine items use five-point response scales, while the pain item uses a 0-to-10 numeric rating that is recoded for scoring. Eight of the ten items contribute to the two summary scores, four to each.
How is PROMIS Global scored?
To score, certain items are recoded, then the four physical-health items are summed to a raw Global Physical Health score and the four mental-health items are summed to a raw Global Mental Health score. Raw scores are converted to standardized T-scores using published conversion tables or the HealthMeasures scoring service. T-scores are calibrated so that 50 is the mean of the U.S. general population with a standard deviation of 10. Higher T-scores indicate better health, so a score of 60 is one standard deviation healthier than average.
How is PROMIS Global used in clinical practice?
PROMIS Global is used to capture a patient's overall physical and mental health at baseline and over time, often alongside a condition-specific PROM. Its scores are predictive of outcomes such as healthcare utilization, and it can be used to estimate a preference-based index for economic analysis. The T-score metric allows comparison against the general population and across different clinical groups.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths include brevity, a standardized and interpretable T-score metric, applicability across conditions, and strong psychometric development. Limitations include being generic rather than condition-specific, so it is less sensitive to small joint-specific or disease-specific changes and is best paired with a targeted measure.
Frequently asked questions
What does a PROMIS T-score of 50 mean? It represents the average of the U.S. general population; each 10 points equals one standard deviation.
Does PROMIS Global give one overall score? No. It produces separate Global Physical Health and Global Mental Health scores.
How many items are on PROMIS Global? Ten items, eight of which contribute to the two summary scores.
References
- Hays RD, Bjorner JB, Revicki DA, Spritzer KL, Cella D. Development of physical and mental health summary scores from the PROMIS global items. Quality of Life Research. 2009;18(7):873-880.
- Cella D, Riley W, Stone A, et al. The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) developed and tested its first wave of adult self-reported health outcome item banks. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2010;63(11):1179-1194.
- HealthMeasures. PROMIS Scale v1.2 - Global Health: scoring manual. Available at: healthmeasures.net.
