Reliability of the Multidimensional Pain Inventory and stability of the MPI classification system in chronic back pain

摘要

BackgroundThis cross validation study examined the reliability of the Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI) and the stability of the Multidimensional Pain Inventory Classification System of the empirically derived subgroup classification obtained by cluster analysis in chronic musculoskeletal pain. Reliability of the German Multidimensional Pain Inventory was only examined once in the past in a small sample. Previous international studies mainly involving fibromyalgia patients showed that retest resulted in 33–38% of patients being assigned to a different Multidimensional Pain Inventory subgroup classification.