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 .
Test–retest and interobserver reliability of quantitative sensory testing according to the protocol of the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain (DFNS): A multi-centre study
& NA ; Quantitative sensory testing ( QST ) is an instrument to assess positive and negative sensory signs , helping to identify mechanisms underlying pathologic pain conditions . In this study , we evaluated the test – retest reliability ( TR‐R ) and the interobserver reliability ( IO‐R ) of QST in patients with sensory disturbances of different etiologies . In 4 centres , 60 patients ( 37 male and 23 female , 56.4 ± 1.9 years ) with lesions or diseases of the somatosensory system were included .  QST comprised 13 parameters including detection and pain thresholds for thermal and mechanical stimuli .  QST was performed in the clinical ly most affected test area and a less or unaffected control area in a morning and an afternoon session on 2 consecutive days by examiner pairs ( 4 QSTs/patient ) . For both , TR‐R and IO‐R , there were high correlations ( r = 0.80–0.93 ) at the affected test area , except for wind‐up ratio ( TR‐R : r = 0.67 ; IO‐R : r = 0.56 ) and paradoxical heat sensations ( TR‐R : r = 0.35 ; IO‐R : r = 0.44 ) . Mean IO‐R ( r = 0.83 , 31 % unexplained variance ) was slightly lower than TR‐R ( r = 0.86 , 26 % unexplained variance , P < .05 ) ; the difference in variance amounted to 5 % . There were no differences between study centres . In a subgroup with an unaffected control area ( n = 43 ) , reliabilities were significantly better in the test area ( TR‐R : r = 0.86 ; IO‐R : r = 0.83 ) than in the control area ( TR‐R : r = 0.79 ; IO‐R : r = 0.71 , each P < .01 ) , suggesting that disease‐related systematic variance enhances reliability of QST . We conclude that st and ardized QST performed by trained examiners is a valuable diagnostic instrument with good test – retest and interobserver reliability within 2 days . With st and ardized training , observer bias is much lower than r and om variance . Quantitative sensory testing performed by trained examiners is a valuable diagnostic instrument with good interobserver and test – retest reliability for use in patients with sensory disturbances of different etiologies to help identify mechanisms of neuropathic and non‐neuropathic pain
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 .