THE EVALUATION OF PAIN IN PATIENTS WITH KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS - THE KNEE PAIN SCALE

Objective. To develop and validate a knee pain scale (KPS) for use wit h patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Methods. Patients wit h documented evidence of knee OA completed the KPS and a test battery including measures of physical functioning, physical performance, and depression. Analyses were conducted to confirm the 4-factor structure of the measure, determine alpha reliabilities, assess the test-retest reliability, and examine the construct validity of the KPS. Results. C onfirmatory factor analysis revealed that the KPS has 4 subscales, inc luding frequency and intensity of pain experienced during both ambulat ion/climbing and transfer activities. All reliabilities were in excess of 0.80 and the subscales of the KPS shared expected variance with bo th self-reported and objective indices of dysfunction. Conclusion. The KPS has good psychometric properties for assessing pain experienced i n conjunction with the performance of activities of daily living. Alth ough at present it is a research tool, with further study it should pr ove valuable in clinical practice as well.