Usefulness of four commonly used neuropathic pain screening questionnaires in patients with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: The Korean journal of pain 2017, 30(1), , pp.51-58
• Main Authors: Gudala, Kapil, Ghai, Babita, Bansal, Dipika
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original; 마취과학
• ISSN: 2005-9159; 2093-0569
• DOI: 10.3344/kjp.2017.30.1.51

Recently symptoms-based screening questionnaires have gained attention for screening for a neuropathic pain component (NePC) in various chronic pain conditions. The present study assessed the usefulness of four commonly used NePC screening questionnaires including the Self-completed douleur neuropathique 4 (S-DN4), the ID Pain, the painDETECT questionnaire (PDQ), and the Self-completed Leeds Assessment of neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (S-LANSS) questionnaire in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) to assess the presence of NePC. This is a single-center cross-sectional study where patients with CLBP, with or without leg pain, were included. Participants were initially screened for NePC presence by a physician according to the regular practice, and later assessed using screening questionnaires. The diagnostic accuracy of these questionnaires was compared assuming the physician-made diagnosis as the gold standard. A total of 215 patients with CLBP of which 164 (76.3%, 95% CI, 70.2-81.5) had a NePC were included. S-DN4, ID Pain, and PDQ have an area under the curve (AUC) > 0.8 indicating excellent discrimination. However, S-LANSS has an AUC of 0.69 (0.62-0.75), indicating low discrimination. S-DN4 has a significantly higher AUC as compared to ID Pain (d(AUC) = 0.063, < 0.01) and S-LANSS (d(AUC) = 0.197, < 0.01). But the AUC of S-DN4 does not significantly differ from that of PDQ (d(AUC) = 0.013, = 0.62). S-DN4, ID Pain, and PDQ, but not S-LANSS, have good discriminant validity to screen for NePCs in patients with CLBP. Despite using all the tests, 20-30% of patients with an NePC were missed. Thus, these questionnaires can only be used as an initial clue in screening for NePCs, but do not replace clinical judgment.