The Brief Pain Inventory is a comprehensive instrument for pain assessment
and has been validated in several languages. A validated German version was
not available until now From March to May 1995 all outpatients of the pain
clinic of the Department of Anesthesiology completed a questionnaire with
the German versions of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and the SF-36 quality
-of-life questionnaire. The BPI was repeated after the consultation. The ph
ysician assessed the performance status score of the Eastern Cooperative On
cology Group (ECOG). The questionnaire was completed by 151 patients. Forty
-two patients were excluded form evaluation for methodological reasons, so
109 patients were evaluated. As in the original version of the BPI, factor
analysis showed a common factor for pain intensity and a second factor for
pain-related interference with function. The comparative fit index of 0.86
confirmed this model. Responses before and after consultation correlated cl
osely for the sum scores of the pain intensity items (Perarson correlation
r = 0.976) as well as for the interference with function items (r = 0.974).
Pain intensity in the BPI correlated with bodily pain in the SF-36 (r = 0.
585). Sum scores of the pain interference items were higher in patients wit
h deteriorated ECOG performance status, whereas sum scores of the intensity
items were not changed. Validity and reliability of the German BPI were co
mparable to the original version. The BPI may be advantageous for palliativ
e care patients, as it places only a small burden on the patient and offers
easy criteria for evaluation. However, further research is needed to diffe
rentiate the impact of pain-related and disease-related interference with f
unction on the BPI, and to find an algorithm for the evaluation of the BPI
when values are missing. (C) U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee, 1999.