The brief pain inventory-Interference Subscale has acceptable reliability but questionable validity in acute back and neck pain populations.
Caitlin M P Jones, Chung-Wei Christine Lin, Joshua Zadro and 3 others
PMID 39577106WHAT IT FOUND
The Brief Pain Inventory-Interference Subscale scored consistently in acute back and neck pain, but it did not reliably measure pain-related disability or track change over 6 weeks.
Use it with caution.
Key findings
01A two-factor model fit better than a one-factor model for back pain and the whole mixed spinal pain sample.
02The BPI-IS items showed acceptable consistency, and no floor or ceiling effects met the study's threshold.
03The BPI-IS did not meet the study's thresholds for construct validity or responsiveness in these acute spinal pain groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The neck pain group had only 68 participants, and 30 of them also had back pain, so the results may not apply to people with neck pain only. The study used expert-agreed numerical cut-offs for factor fit, validity, and responsiveness, and the authors said these thresholds were somewhat arbitrary and possibly too optimistic. Responsiveness was judged by correlation with the Global Perceived Effect scale at 6 weeks, which may reflect current status rather than true change. Twelve participants had completely missing BPI-IS data, four had partial missing data, and one participant did not specify pain location and completed no assessment. Floor and ceiling effects were not assessed at 6 weeks because a large proportion of the population had recovered by that time point.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests. The paper does not report a funding source.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the BPI-IS is a valid measure of pain-related disability or change in acute back and neck pain. It had acceptable consistency, but it did not meet the study's thresholds for construct validity or responsiveness.