Resumen

GONZALEZ-ESCALADA, J. R. et al. Validation of the Lattinen Index for the assessment of chronic pain patients. Rev. Soc. Esp. Dolor [online]. 2012, vol.19, n.4, pp.181-188. ISSN 1134-8046.

Background and objectives: the Lattinen Index (LI) is a widely used tool for pain assessment in Spanish speaking countries, both in clinical practice and research. Nevertheless, despite its extensive use, no validation of the Spanish language version of the questionnaire has been published yet. This study intends to validate LI as a tool for measuring chronic pain. Materials and methods: a multicentre, cross-sectional, non-interventional study, including 283 chronic pain patients (> 3 months duration), from 6 different centres, was performed. Validity and reliability analysis were performed in order to validate the IL. On a first visit patients completed the IL questionnaire and other conventional pain scales (Visual Analogic Scale [VAS], McGill Pain Questionnaire and three Likert scales evaluating Analgesic Consumption, Functional Ability, and Hours of Sleep), which acted as gold standards validity measurements. A sub-set of 83 patients, with stable clinical characteristics, was asked to retake the initial tests after 15 days, to measure test-retest reliability. Results: a statistically significant positive correlation was found between the total IL score and the degree of pain measured by VAS. The measurements from the individual items in the questionnaire: Pain intensity, Pain frequency, Analgesic consumption, Functional Ability and Hours of Sleep correlated from moderately to strongly, with the respective gold standards measurements. Internal consistency and test-retest assays showed coefficient values of: alpha > 0.7 and intraclass correlation > 0.85, respectively. Conclusions: IL validity was established both for the overall score as for the individual dimensions, proving a correlation with standard measurements. Reliability of IL was demonstrated with the results from internal consistency and test-retest analysis, which indicated a high homogeneity between items.

Palabras clave : Pain; Pain measurement; Pain scale; Lattinen index.

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