Reliability of a self-administrated musculoskeletal questionnaire: The fourth Trøndelag health study

Astri Grøtan Dahl,Sara Havang,Knut Hagen

doi:10.1016/j.msksp.2021.102496

Abstract

BackgroundThe reliability of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) has not been evaluated in an unselected general population. The aim of this population-based follow-up study was to estimate the reliability between a self-administered NMQ-based questionnaire and a face-to-face interview performed approximately two months later. To interpret the results, we assessed the 1-year prevalence of various pain musculoskeletal pain locations. MethodsA random sample of 1201 participants in the fourth wave of the Trøndelag Health Survey were invited to a follow-up interview focusing on sleep and pain. A total of 232 (19%) participated a semi-structured interview, and the agreement with the corresponding answers in the musculoskeletal questionnaire in HUNT4 were evaluated by Cohen's kappa statistics with 95% confidence interval (CI). The 1-year prevalence of the various pain sites was stratified by age and gender. ResultsThe reliability was good for chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMSP), chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain (CWMSP) and pain in hip and knee (kappa values between 0.63 and 0.68). Moderate kappa values between 0.51 and 0.60 were found for pain in the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist/hand, upper back, lower back, calf, ankle/feet, and ≥7 pain sites. The 1-year prevalence was 54.3% for CMSP and 17.2 for CWMSP, substantially higher for women and among those aged 50 years or more. ConclusionIn this population-based study the reliability between interview and questionnaire was good to moderate for most pain locations. In particular, the self-administered musculoskeletal questionnaire seems to be a useful tool in identifying individuals with CMSP, CWMSP, and pain in hip and knee.

Highlights

Musculoskeletal disorders are ranked as one of the top ten causes of years lived with disability, most evident for lower back pain and neck pain (Global Burden of Disease, 2016)
While musculoskeletal conditions are most accurately diagnosed by a careful patient history combined with clinical exami nation and supplementary investigations (Yazici and Gibofsky, 1999), questionnaires are most often used in large-scale population-based studies with limited ability to make specific diagnoses of musculoskel etal pain
The HUNT4 survey included two questionnaires; questionnaire 1 (Q1) and questionnaire 2 (Q2), where Q2 contained a musculoskeletal questionnaire mainly adopted from the original Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers, and was initially translated into four Nordic languages, including Norwegian (Kuorinka et al, 1987)

Summary

Introduction

Musculoskeletal disorders are ranked as one of the top ten causes of years lived with disability, most evident for lower back pain and neck pain (Global Burden of Disease, 2016). Musculoskeletal conditions constitute a major problem for the individuals affected and for the so ciety with high economic burden for most countries in Europe (Woolf et al, 2012) In recognition of this high impact on health, epidemiological studies may increase our knowledge of musculoskeletal disorders in the general population. The use of standardized questionnaire in large-scale population-based studies is an effective and inexpensive strategy to identify individuals and evaluate the impact of chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMSP). The NMQ is widely used in epidemiological studies, no previous studies have evaluated the reli ability of specific body locations of CMSP in an unselected group of participants in a large population-based study. The reliability of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) has not been evaluated in an unselected general population. The self-administered musculoskeletal questionnaire seems to be a useful tool in identifying individuals with CMSP, CWMSP, and pain in hip and knee

Methods

Results

Conclusion