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Comparative Study
. 2019 Dec 21;185(24):757.
doi: 10.1136/vr.105115. Epub 2019 Oct 16.

Evaluation and comparison of pain questionnaires for clinical screening of osteoarthritis in cats

Sarah Stadig  1 , B Duncan X Lascelles  2 , Gorel Nyman  1 , Anna Bergh  3
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Evaluation and comparison of pain questionnaires for clinical screening of osteoarthritis in cats

Sarah Stadig et al. Vet Rec. .

Abstract

Background: Feline osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of long-standing pain and physical dysfunction. Performing a physical examination of a cat is often challenging. There is a need for disease-specific questionnaires or the so-called clinical metrology instruments (CMIs) to facilitate diagnosis and evaluation of treatment of feline OA. The CMI provides the owners an assessment of the cat's behavioural and lifestyle changes in the home environment. The purpose of the study was to evaluate readability, internal consistency, reliability and discriminatory ability of four CMIs.

Methods: This is a prospective, cross-sectional study with 142 client-owned cats. Feline OA was diagnosed based on medical history, orthopaedic examination and radiography.

Results: The results indicate that all four instruments have sound readability, internal consistency, are reliable over time and have good discriminatory ability. Preliminary cut-off values with optimal sensitivity and specificity were suggested for each instrument. The osteoarthritic cats showed significant changes in behavioural response to pain during orthopaedic examination, compared with sound cats.

Conclusion: The results indicate that all four questionnaires make an important contribution in a clinical setting, and that the cat's behavioural response to pain during physical examination should be a parameter to take into account as a possible indication of chronic pain.

Keywords: chronic pain; clinical metrology instruments; feline; owner assessment; pressure mat technique; sensitivity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart describing the chronological order of examinations and the number of cats subjected to each examination. OA, osteoarthritis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cut-off values, sensitivity and specificity graphically illustrated for the four clinical metrology instruments. The x axis shows the instrument’s total maximum score, while the y axis shows the index value for sensitivity and specificity: (a) Feline Musculoskeletal Pain Index cut-off value=3 (−4 to 80); (b) Feline Physical Function Formula (FPFF) cut-off value=2 (0–12); (c) Owner Behaviour Watch (OBW) cut-off value=1 (0–50); and (d) Zamprogno Question Bank (ZQB) cut-off value=4 (0–72).
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