RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE TURKISH VERSION OF THE PAIN QUALITY ASSESSMENT SCALE IN PATIENTS WITH CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

Objective: There are some tests used by clinicians for defining and differentiating various pain types and following up the patient after initiating pain management therapy The Pain Quality Assessment Scale (PQAS) is a questionnaire used in differentiation of neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain. The PQAS is also used in detection of the most common symptom of neuropathic pain which has a wide spectrum, and in the management and follow up of pain therapy in the light of its findings. The aim of this study was to examine whether the Turkish version of PQAS is a valid and reliable tool to assess pain. Material and Method: Seventy patients with carpal tunnel syndrome seen by two clinicians were evaluated by Turkish version of the PQAS in the morning and in the afternoon of the same day. Results: With respect to reliability, the correlations between PQAS total score and paroxysmal, surface, deep and sensitive pain were 0.830 (p<0.001), 0.853 (p<0.001), 0.893 (p<0.001) and 0.679 (p<0.001), respectively. With respect to validity, the correlation results between total score and paroxysmal, surface and deep pain subgroups of PQAS was found as r:0.87, r:0.80 and r:0.87, respectively. Conclusion: In painful situations, defining the pain type and detecting the dominant symptom are quite helpful in management of therapy. The results of this study suggest that the Turkish version of the PQAS is a reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of pain in Turkish patients that have diseases with neuropathic pain types.