Development and initial validation of an expanded and revised version of the Short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ-2)

The objective of the present research was to develop a single measure of the major symptoms of both neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain that can be used in Studies of epidemiology, natural history, pathophysiologic mechanisms, and treatment response. We expanded and revised the Short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire(1) (SF-MPQ) pain descriptors by adding symptoms relevant to neuropathic pain and by modifying the response format to a 0-10 numerical rating scale to provide increased responsiveness in longitudinal studies and clinical trials. The reliability, validity, and subscale structure of the revised SF-MPQ (SF-MPQ-2(1)) were examined in responses from 882 individuals with diverse chronic pain syndromes and in 226 patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy who participated in a randomized clinical trial. The data Suggest that the SF-MPQ-2 has excellent reliability and validity, and the results of both exploratory and Confirmatory factor analyses provided Support for four readily interpretable subscales-continuous pain, intermittent pain, predominantly neuropathic pain, and affective descriptors. These results provide a basis for use of the SF-MPQ-2 in future clinical research, including clinical trials of treatments for neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain conditions. (C) 2009 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.