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 .
Assessment of pain quality in chronic neuropathic and nociceptive pain clinical trials with the Neuropathic Pain Scale.
UNLABELLED Although a number of measures of pain qualities exist , little research has examined the potential for these measures to identify the unique effects of pain treatments on different pain qualities . We examined the utility of the Neuropathic Pain Scale ( NPS ) for assessing changes in pain qualities after open label lidocaine patch 5 % in 3 sample s of patients : patients with peripheral neuropathic pain , low back pain , and osteoarthritis . With one exception ( " cold " pain in subjects with low back pain ) , each of the NPS items showed significant change after open label lidocaine patch . In addition , significantly larger changes were observed for the NPS items reflecting global pain intensity and pain unpleasantness and for items assessing sharp and deep pain than for items assessing cold , sensitive , and itchy pain . The pattern of changes in pain qualities did not differ across the 3 diagnostic groups , but it did differ from the patterns of changes in pain qualities associated with other analgesic treatments . The results support the potential utility of the NPS for assessing the patterns of changes in pain qualities that can be observed after pain treatment . PERSPECTIVE Pain clinical trials that include measures of pain qualities , such as the NPS , might identify distinct patterns of treatment effects on those pain qualities . This research might be used to help clinicians target analgesics to match the specific qualities associated with a patient 's pain and to better underst and the mechanisms of analgesic effects in drug development programs
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 .