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 with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.


METHODS
Patients with 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
Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the KPS has 4 subscales, including frequency and intensity of pain experienced during both ambulation/climbing and transfer activities. All reliabilities were in excess of 0.80 and the subscales of the KPS shared expected variance with both self-reported and objective indices of dysfunction.


CONCLUSIONS
The KPS has good psychometric properties for assessing pain experienced in conjunction with the performance of activities of daily living. Although at present it is a research tool, with further study it should prove valuable in clinical practice as well.
Rejeski
W J
WJ
Department of Health and Sport Science, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
Ettinger
W H
WH
Shumaker
S
S
Heuser
M D
MD
James
P
P
Monu
J
J
Burns
R
R
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D010146:Pain; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires