Although a variety of pain and physical functioning outcome measures have been reported in the literature , few have demonstrate method ologically strong psychometric properties .
INTRODUCTION A range of outcome measures across various domains are used to evaluate change following an intervention in clinical trials on chronic neuropathic pain ( NeP ) .
However , to capture a real change in the variable of interest , the psychometric properties of a particular measure should demonstrate appropriate method ological quality .
Various outcome measures in the domains of pain and physical functioning have been used in the literature for NeP , for which individual properties ( eg , reliability/validity ) have been reported .
Total neuropathy score
Objective : To determine the validity and reliability of the  total neuropathy score ( TNS ) in normal subjects and in subjects with diabetic polyneuropathy . Background : Clinical research in peripheral neuropathy requires vali date d outcome measures . Multiple outcome measures have been used in clinical trials , including symptom measures , functional scales , quantitative clinical examinations , nerve conduction studies , computerized sensory examinations , and nerve biopsy . Each of these measures has its strengths and weaknesses . In two previous studies of toxic neuropathy from chemotherapeutic agents , the authors used the TNS as the outcome measure . The TNS combines information obtained from grading of symptoms , signs , nerve conduction studies , and quantitative sensory tests , and provides a single measure to quantify neuropathy . Methods : The authors measured the inter- and intrarater reliability of the TNS and preformed a cross-sectional validation study of the TNS and its subscales with the Mayo Clinic measures of neuropathy , neuropathy symptom score ( NSS ) , and the neurologic impairment score ( NIS ) in five healthy control subjects and 30 individuals with varying severities of diabetic polyneuropathy . Results : Inter- and intrarater reliability of the TNS  was excellent ( 0.966 and 0.986 respectively ) . The cross-sectional validation study showed excellent correlations among all measures of neuropathy . Conclusions : The total neuropathy score is a vali date d measure of peripheral nerve function and could be used as an end point for clinical trials of peripheral neuropathy
Although a variety of pain and physical functioning outcome measures have been reported in the literature , few have demonstrate method ologically strong psychometric properties .
INTRODUCTION A range of outcome measures across various domains are used to evaluate change following an intervention in clinical trials on chronic neuropathic pain ( NeP ) .
However , to capture a real change in the variable of interest , the psychometric properties of a particular measure should demonstrate appropriate method ological quality .
Various outcome measures in the domains of pain and physical functioning have been used in the literature for NeP , for which individual properties ( eg , reliability/validity ) have been reported .