Abstract
Purpose
Evaluation of the psychometric properties of a cross-culturally adapted questionnaire, the Core Outcome Measurement Index for neck pain (COMI-neck).
Methods
The COMI-neck was cross-culturally adapted for the Italian language using established procedures. The following psychometric properties of the instrument were then assessed in patients with chronic neck pain undergoing rehabilitation: test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC); construct validity by comparing COMI-neck with the Neck Pain and Disability Scale, a numerical pain rating scale, and the EuroQol-Five Dimension (Pearson’s correlations); and responsiveness by means of Standardized Response Mean (SRM), unpaired t tests, and Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves.
Results
The questionnaire was completed by 103 subjects. The COMI-neck summary score displayed no relevant floor or ceiling effects. Test–retest reliability was excellent (ICC = 0.87). With one exception (symptom-specific well-being), the individual COMI items and the COMI summary score correlated to the expected extent with the scores of the reference questionnaires (r = 0.40–0.80). The mean change scores for the Italian COMI-neck differed significantly between patients with a good global outcome and those with a poor outcome (p = 0.002); SRM for the good outcome group was 1.23, and for the poor outcome group 0.40. ROC analysis revealed an area under the curve of 0.73 (95 % CI: 0.62–0.85).
Conclusions
This study provides evidence that the Italian version of the COMI-neck is a valid and responsive questionnaire in the population of patients examined. Its use is recommended for clinical and research purposes.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all the physiotherapists and the patients who took part in the study.
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Our Institutional Review Board approved the research and the study was conducted in conformity with ethical and humane principles of research.
Appendices
Appendix 1: English version of the COMI-neck
Neck problems can lead to neck pain and/or pain in the arm/shoulder region, as well as to sensory disturbances such as tingling, ‘pins and needles’, or numbness in any of these regions.
For the following 2 questions (1a and 1b), we would like you to indicate the severity of your pain, by marking a cross on the line from 0 to 10 (where “0” = no pain, “10” = the worst pain you can imagine).
Appendix 2: Italian version of the COMI-neck
I problemi al collo possono portare a dolori alla zona cervicale e/o alle spalle ed alle braccia, oltre che a disturbi come formicolio, puntura di aghi e spilli o riduzione della sensibilità in una di queste regioni.
Nelle prossime 2 domande (1a e 1b) indichi l’intensità del suo dolore, segnando una croce sulla linea da 0 a 10 (dove 0 = nessun dolore, 10 = il dolore più forte che lei possa immaginare).
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Monticone, M., Ferrante, S., Maggioni, S. et al. Reliability, validity and responsiveness of the cross-culturally adapted Italian version of the core outcome measures index (COMI) for the neck. Eur Spine J 23, 863–872 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-013-3092-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-013-3092-y