PURPOSE: To compare pain assessment questionnaires commonly used in advanced prostate cancer trials and to determine the psychometric characteristics and longitudinal relationships by contrasting questionnaire data from two international phase 2 trials.
METHODS: Scores from the Present Pain Intensity (PPI) question of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, the pain intensity scale of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Prostate (FACT-P) were analyzed using Pearson correlation, intraclass correlation coefficient, and Cronbach's α, respectively. Concordance was evaluated with Cohen's kappa coefficient and McNemar test at baseline (n = 224) and two subsequent observations.
RESULTS: PPI and FACT-P scores were associated with the BPI score at baseline for Trials 1 and 2: PPI r = 0.66 and 0.80, respectively (P < 0.001); FACT-P (pain scale) r = -0.76 and -0.82, respectively (P < 0.001). However, concordance analysis revealed that the BPI identified pain (score > 0) at higher rates than the PPI: at baseline, BPI: 89 % (64/72) and 77 % (95/124), PPI: 68 % (49/72) and 64 % (79/124) [Trials 1 and 2, respectively; McNemar test (P < 0.001) for both studies]. The FACT-P pain scale identified pain similarly to the BPI pain intensity scale; longitudinal analysis produced comparable findings. All pain scales met standard psychometric acceptability criteria, but the BPI and FACT-P performed better than the PPI.
CONCLUSIONS: Data suggest the BPI pain intensity and FACT-P pain scales are better than the PPI question at capturing the pain experience among patients with advanced prostate cancer. Additional comparative research is needed in larger population samples.
Written by:
Robinson DW Jr, Zhao N, Dawkins F, Qi M, Revicki D. Are you the author?
Janssen Global Services, LLC, 200 Great Valley Parkway, Malvern, PA, 19355, USA.
Reference: Qual Life Res. 2013 Apr 16. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1007/s11136-013-0411-z
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23589119
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