Quantitative Dynamic Allodynograph—A Standardized Measure for Testing Dynamic Mechanical Allodynia in Chronic Limb Pain

Noy Turgeman Dahan, Jean Jacques Vatine, Irit Weissman-Fogel, Hana Karpin, Sharon Shmuely, Tami Bar-Shalita

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Dynamic mechanical allodynia (DMA) is both a symptom and a central sensitization sign, yet no standardized method for quantifying the DMA area has been reported. This study aimed to establish psychometric properties for Quantitative Dynamic Allodynography ( QDA), a newly developed protocol measuring the DMA area as a percentage of the body surface.

METHODS: Seventy-eight patients aged 18-65 diagnosed with chronic complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) participated in this study. Test-retest reliability was conducted twice, one week apart (N = 20), and inter-rater (N = 3) reliability was conducted on 10 participants. Disease severity ( CRPS Severity Score, CSS), pain intensity (VAS), and quality of life (SF-36) measures were utilized to test construct validity.

RESULTS: High inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.96, p < 0.001) and test-retest reliability ( r = 0.98, p < 0.001) were found. Furthermore, the QDA score was found to be correlated with the CSS ( r = 0.47, p < 0.001), VAS ( r = 0.37, p < 0.001), and the SF-36 physical health total ( r = -0.47, p < 0.001) scores.

CONCLUSION: The QDA is the first developed reliable and valid protocol for measuring DMA in a clinical setting and may be used as a diagnostic and prognostic measure in clinics and in research, advancing the pain precision medicine approach.

Original languageEnglish
Article number7949
JournalSensors
Volume23
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.

Keywords

  • Chronic Pain/diagnosis
  • Complex Regional Pain Syndromes
  • Humans
  • Hyperalgesia/diagnosis
  • Quality of Life
  • Reproducibility of Results

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