title: Reliability of Quantitative Sensory Tests in a Low Back Pain Population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Reliability is an essential condition for using quantitative sensory tests (QSTs) in research and clinical practice, but information on reliability in patients with chronic pain is sparse. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of different QST in patients with chronic low back pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-nine patients with chronic low back pain participated in 2 identical experimental sessions, separated by at least 7 days. The following parameters were recorded: pressure pain detection and tolerance thresholds at the toe, electrical pain thresholds to single and repeated stimulation, heat pain detection and tolerance thresholds at the arm and leg, cold pain detection threshold at the arm and leg, and conditioned pain modulation using the cold pressor test. Reliability was analyzed using the coefficient of variation, the coefficient of repeatability, and the intraclass correlation coefficient. It was judged as acceptable or not based primarily on the analysis of the coefficient of repeatability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The reliability of most tests was acceptable. Exceptions were cold pain detection thresholds at the leg and arm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most QST measurements have acceptable reliability in patients with chronic low back pain.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Therapy, Bern University Hospital, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland; †Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Department of Health Science and Technology, School of Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; and ‡Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
authors.forename: Pascal H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Vuilleumier
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Biurrun Manresa
authors.forename: Yassine
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ghamri
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mlekusch
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siegenthaler
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arendt-Nielsen
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Curatolo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology