Psychological Distress and Widespread Pain Contribute to the Variance of the Central Sensitization Inventory: A Cross‐Sectional Study in Patients with Chronic Pain

Abstract

In this study, the convergent validity of the CSI was measured with demonstration of a strong relationship between contributing factors and clinical features of CS. These findings of convergent validity, considering former studies of the CSI, underline the use of the questionnaire in the clinical practice.

Convergent Validity of the Dutch Central Sensitization Inventory: Associations with Psychophysical Pain Measures, Quality of Life, Disability, and Pain Cognitions in Patients with Chronic Spinal Pain

“…This confirms the underlying factor structure of the Dutch CSI, of which the factor “general disability and physical symptoms” might explain the associations with the SF‐36 and PDI in the current study. The association with the PCS might be explained by the factor “emotional distress.” This is furthermore supported by a recent study that compared the CSI with other self‐reported measures in a sample of people with chronic pain, which not only demonstrated a direct relationship between psychological distress and the CSI, but also an indirect relation between pain catastrophizing and the CSI mediated by psychological distress . Although individual CSI items do not directly reflect pain catastrophizing, some of the included items deal with psychological states that are strongly associated with pain catastrophizing, such as anxiety (item 3), insomnia (item 12), and depression (item 16) …”

Measurement Properties of the Central Sensitization Inventory: A Systematic Review

“…Construct validity was evaluated in 5 studies: Choi, Kim et al., Wilgen et al., Lluch Girbes et al., and Cuesta‐Vargas et al . Choi reported that CSI scores were positively correlated with the Patient Health Questionnaire ( r = 0.63); the Beck Depression Inventory ( r = 0.61); the Pain Disability Questionnaire ( r = 0.43 to 0.52); the Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale ( r = 0.43); and the Insomnia Severity Index ( r = 0.41).…”

“…reported that CSI scores among knee replacement patients were positively correlated with both preoperation pain intensity (measured by the numerical pain rating scale) and amount of pain medication required postoperation. Correlative data between CSI scores and patient‐reported outcome tools were also available in the papers by Wilgen et al . and Lluch Girbes et al .…”

“… The papers by Neblett et al., Lluch Girbes et al., Wilgen et al., and Bennett et al . were omitted from this table because those publications primarily focused on the Central Sensitization Inventory's interpretability and/or construct validity, which are not quantitatively scored using COSMIN. …”

Cross‐cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Greek Version of the Central Sensitization Inventory

“…Previous studies have found satisfactory test‐retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.88 to 0.97) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88 to 0.91) . Although the CSI does not actually measure CS, CSI scores have been found to be associated with subjective and objective CS‐related variables, including lower pain thresholds, wider distribution of pain, longer pain duration, levels of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor, and dysfunction of the descending pain‐modulatory system . Also, total CSI scores have been found to discriminate between subjects with presumably different levels of CS, including patients with chronic regional pain, widespread pain/FM, and controls .…”