THE SWEDISH KING’S PARKINSON’S DISEASE PAIN SCALE: VALIDATION AND PAIN PREVALENCE IN PERSONS WITH MILD-MODERATE SEVERITY PARKINSON’S DISEASE

OBJECTIVES: To examine convergent and divergent validity of the King’s Parkinson’s disease Pain Scale – Swedish translated version, and to determine the prevalence of pain according to scale domains in persons with Parkinson’s disease. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, validation study. PATIENTS: Ninety-seven persons with Parkinson’s disease. METHODS: The pain scale was translated into Swedish by an accredited company, and permission was granted to use the resultant version. Participants completed the rater-administered The King’s Parkinson’s disease Pain Scale – Swedish version, the visual analogue scale (pain), Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (bodily discomfort subscale), MiniBESTest and Walk-12G. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the strength of associations. RESULTS: The mean (standard deviation) age of participants was 71 (6.1) years, 63% were male, and 76% presented with mild disease severity. The mean (standard deviation) The King’s Parkinson’s disease Pain Scale – Swedish version score was 7.84 (12.8). A strong (r = 0.65) and moderate (r = 0.45) association was found between the newly-translated version and visual analogue scale (pain) and Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire – bodily discomfort subscale, respectively. Weak associations were found between the newly translated version and divergent measures. Overall pain prevalence was 57%, with musculoskeletal pain being the most common, followed by chronic and radicular pain. CONCLUSION: This study affirms aspects of validity of the Swedish King’s Parkinson’s disease Pain Scale. Most participants presented with 1 or more types of pain, highlighting the need for targeted interventions. LAY ABSTRACT When translating a scale from one language to another, it is important to assess the validity of the newly translated version. The aims of this study were to determine the validity of the newly translated Swedish version of the King’s Parkinson’s disease Pain Scale, and to quantify the number of persons with Parkinson’s disease who have reported pain using the translated version. The Swedish version of the pain scale was found to be closely associated with other pain scales, indicating measurement of the same behaviour. It was further found that 57% of persons with Parkinson’s disease in the study reported at least 1 type of pain, with most subjects experiencing musculoskeletal pain. In conclusion, the newly translated version of the pain scale is a valid assessment tool for pain in this population, and pain is very common in persons with Parkinson’s disease.