Validation of the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire in chronic pain patients.

Ruscheweyh R, Verneuer B, Dany K, Marziniak M, Wolowski A, Colak-Ekici R, Schulte TL, Bullmann V, Grewe S, Gralow I, Evers S, Knecht S

Zusammenfassung

Recently, a self-rating measure for pain perception based on imagined painful daily life situations, the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ), has been developed and shown to correlate with experimentally obtained pain intensity ratings in healthy subjects. Here, we assessed the validity of the PSQ for investigation of general pain perception (ie, pain perception outside the site of clinical pain) in chronic pain patients. PSQ scores were obtained in 134 chronic pain patients and compared to those of 185 healthy control subjects. In a subgroup of 46 chronic pain patients, we performed experimental pain testing outside the clinical pain site, including different modalities (heat, cold, pressure, and pinprick) and different measures (pain thresholds, pain intensity ratings). Results show that PSQ scores were significantly correlated with both experimental pain intensity ratings (Pearson's r=0.71, P