Reliability and Validity of the Turkish Version of Pain Modulation Index

Objective: Chronic pain has significant impact on individuals and society. It is not just a symptom but is considered to be a separate disease in its own right. The aim of this study is to translate into Turkish and assess the validity and reliability of the “Pain Modulation index”, which was developed to be used as an indicator of the changing central pain processing process in individuals presenting with chronic pain. Materials and Methods: Study included 125 patients who had chronic pain. The Turkish translation was carried out using the “forward-backward translation” method. After adjustments were made according to the feedback of 10 volunteers, the study was started on the patient population. To evaluate the reliability of the scale, the test-retest was conducted with a 15-day interval. To evaluate its validity, Pain Detect and the Central Sensitization Inventory were applied on the first visit, along with the Pain Modulation index. Results: Since the scale has 2 factors, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated separately for the factors, and it was found to be 0.89 for factor 1 and 0.82 for factor 2. intraclass correlation coefficient values were determined as 0.95 for factor 1 and 0.92 for factor 2. the results of the Turkish version of the pain modulation scale were found to correlate significantly with pain detect and central sensitization inventory (p<0.05). Conclusion: The Turkish version of the pain modulation scale is a fast and easily applicable scale with high validity and reliability for clinical and epidemiological studies in patients presenting with chronic pain.