Examining patient reported outcome measures for phantom limb pain: measurement use in a sample of Veterans with amputation.

The sample was small and may have been underpowered to identify relationships among outcome measures. The study used a convenience cross-sectional design, so it describes associations at one time point. Participants were Veterans at one Midwest VA amputation center, so the findings may not apply to other amputation populations. Only 2 female Veterans and 8% of participants were from non-white backgrounds. The study did not collect current medications, reason for amputation, or additional comorbidities that could affect overall pain. The Phantom Phenomena Questionnaire had no specified timeframe, so ratings may reflect lifetime experience or a recent period. Pain interference measures often referred to the past 7 days, which may not capture infrequent but severe phantom limb pain episodes.

Do not assume a high phantom limb pain rating means a patient's daily life is highly interfered with. In this pilot, phantom limb pain ratings were only small or moderate in relation to pain interference measures, while general pain ratings were stronger.