Correlation between Visual Analogue Scale and Short form of McGill Questionnaire in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Pain assessment in patients with chronic pain is very important. This study was performed to evaluate the pain severity and the correlation between visual analogue scales (VAS) and short form of McGill questionnaires in patients with chronic low back pain. Methods: In a prospective descriptive study, pain intensity in 150 patients who were referred to the Physiotherapy Ward of Baghiatallah Hospital in Tehran, was measured by Mc-gill and VAS pain questionnaires, and then the correlation between these questionnaires was evaluated. Data was analyzed by Pearson correlation and regression statistical tests. Results: The patients’ pain intensity score was 8.36±0.9 by VAS and 39.04±4.2 By Mc-gill questionnaire, respectively. The data show that most of our samples had severe pain. The correlation between VAS and Mc-gill was r=0.86 that shows a very good correlation between these questionnaires. VAS as this formula predicts McGill: McGill=4.727+4.1(VAS), R²=0.771. Conclusion: Regarding the importance of pain evaluation and excellent correlation between VAS and Mc-gill, and the fact that VAS questionnaire is very easy to be completed, it seems that VAS questionnaire is superior to short form to McGill pain questionnaire to evaluate pain in patients with chronic low back pain.

Keywords

• low back pain
• pain assessment
• pain measurement-instrumentation