Cultural Adaptation, Reliability and Validation of the Arabic Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire in Patients with Low Back Pain

BACKGROUND: The Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire (ÖMPQ) assesses the psychosocial factors in people with complaints of musculoskeletal disorders and predicts those likely to develop persistent symptoms. OBJECTIVE: To culturally-adapt and assess the validity of the ÖMPQ in an Arabic population with low back pain (LBP). METHODS: This was a prospective cohort validation study of the ÖMPQ. The Arabic-ÖMPQ was created by forward translation, translation synthesis and backward translation in an Arabic population. Participants were included if they were 18 years or older, had acute or chronic LBP and were fluent in Arabic. Eighty-four patients completed the questionnaires at baseline, 2 days later and 3 months follow-up. We assessed specific agreement and test–retest reliability using the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC). We assessed predictive validity using linear regression and relative risk. We assessed content validity by investigating the ceiling and floor effects. RESULTS: To construct validity, the Arabic-ÖMPQ had a moderate (r≥0.3, <0.5) to high (r≥0.5) correlation with pain, disability, fear-avoidance and catastrophizing questionnaires. The test-rest reliability was high ICC(2,1)=0.92 (95% CI: 0.83–0.96). The Arabic-ÖMPQ score at baseline can significantly predict disability at 3 months F(1,82)=33.87, p<0.01; R(2)=0.29. CONCLUSION: The translation of the Arabic-ÖMPQ into Arabic was successful. The Arabic-ÖMPQ showed very good reliability and proper validity and thus can be used to predict the risk of developing persistent disability amongst patients with LBP in an Arabic population.