Clinically significant differences (CSD) in the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale Short Form (MSAS-SF)

Abstract

8269 Background The MSAS SF measures patient (pt) rated distress for physical symptoms and frequency for psychological symptoms, and provides subscale scores for physical (PHYS), psychological (PSYCH), global distress (GDI) and Total MSAS (TMSAS); the range for each subscale is 0–4. We examined changes in MSAS-SF scales in pts treated for cancer pain to estimate CSD of MSAS-SF subscales with distribution based criteria and anchor based effect sizes. Methods Pts with worst pain > 4/10 were managed according to AHCPR guidelines, and assessed at baseline and 1 week with the MSAS-SF, the Brief Pain Inventory, and Karnofsky Performance Status(KPS). MSAS-SF subscale scores were recalculated without the pain item (GDIP, PHYSP, TMSASP). A half standard deviation (SD), and the standard error measurement (SEM), were distribution based criteria for CSD. Changes in pain severity and in KPS were used to determine anchor based differences. A decrease in worst pain greater than 2 points was defined as clinically signifi...