Introduction: The Neuropathic Pain Questionnaire-Short Form (NPQ-SF) is the shortest diagnostic tool for the assessment of neuropathic pain, designed with the goal to differentiate between neuropathic and nonneuropathic pain. The aim of this study was to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the NPQ-SF questionnaire in Arabic.
Methods: A systematic translation process was used to translate the original English NPQ-SF into Arabic. After the pilot study, the Arabic version was validated among patients with chronic pain in two tertiary care centers. Reliability of the translated version was examined using internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). We examined the validity of the Arabic NPQ-SF via construct validity, concurrent validity (associations with the numeric pain scale, Brief Pain Inventory, and Self-completed Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs [S-LANSS]), face validity, and diagnostic validity. To investigate the responsiveness, the translated NPQ-SF questionnaire was administered twice among the same group of patients.
Results: A total of 142 subjects (68 men, 74 women) were included in the study. Cronbach's α were 0.45 (95% CI: 0.29, 0.61) and 0.48 (95% CI: 0.33, 0.63), and the ICC was 0.78 (95% CI: 0.72, 0.85). The NPQ-SF was moderately to strongly associated with the S-LANSS questionnaire. Results showed our Arabic NPQ-SF to have good diagnostic accuracy, with area under the curve of 0.76 (95% CI: 0.67, 0.84). Results from the receiver operating characteristic analysis identified a cut-off score of ≥0.52 as the best score to distinguish between patients with or without neuropathic pain, which was higher than the recommended cut-off score (≥0) in the original study. With both sensitivity and specificity of 71%. Most patients found the NPQ-SF questionnaire to be clear and easy to understand.
Conclusion: Our translated version of NPQ-SF is reliable and valid for use, thus providing physicians a new tool with which to evaluate and diagnose neuropathic pain among Arabic-speaking patients.
Keywords: Anesthesia; Arabic; Neuropathic Pain Questionnaire; reliability; short form; validity.