Refinement of the Feline Musculoskeletal Pain Index (FMPI) and development of the short-form FMPI

Masataka Enomoto; B Duncan X Lascelles; James B Robertson; Margaret E Gruen

doi:10.1177/1098612X211011984

Refinement of the Feline Musculoskeletal Pain Index (FMPI) and development of the short-form FMPI

J Feline Med Surg. 2022 Feb;24(2):142-151. doi: 10.1177/1098612X211011984. Epub 2021 May 18.

Authors

Masataka Enomoto¹, B Duncan X Lascelles^{1

2}, James B Robertson³, Margaret E Gruen^{4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Translational Research in Pain (TRiP) Program, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
² Center for Translational Pain Research, Department of Anaesthesiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
³ Biostatistician, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
⁴ Comparative Pain Research and Education Centre, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
⁵ Comparative Medicine Institute, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
⁶ Behavioral Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.

PMID: 34002643
DOI: 10.1177/1098612X211011984

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and responsiveness of the Feline Musculoskeletal Pain Index (FMPI) using the collective results of multiple clinical studies and iteratively refine the FMPI for future use.

Methods: Data were compiled from previously conducted studies involving client-owned cats with degenerative joint disease (DJD) and which used the FMPI. The reliability of the FMPI was assessed using the data from the initial visits of those studies. For the assessment of responsiveness of the FMPI, only placebo-controlled studies that used analgesic treatments were included. Treatment groups from each study were combined and categorized as 'placebo' group and 'analgesic' group. Then, the mean change from baseline in score of each FMPI item and across all items within and between these groups were assessed. Based on the results of the reliability and responsiveness of the FMPI, stepwise elimination was used to remove the items that were least able to distinguish between the placebo and analgesic groups. Finally, after the stepwise elimination, a proposed new FMPI-short form (FMPI-sf) was constructed and its reliability was reassessed using the data sets described above. Individual and combined data sets of the studies were also used to compare the responsiveness of the original FMPI and the FMPI-sf.

Results: The data from 180 cats from four studies were included. The original FMPI had a reasonable reliability, but low/no responsiveness. The elimination process of FMPI items refined the responsiveness of the instrument while maintaining its reliability. When the responsiveness was compared between the original FMPI (17 items) and the FMPI-sf (nine items), the treatment effect between groups was always greater when the FMPI-sf was used.

Conclusions and relevance: The proposed FMPI-sf may be able to better distinguish between placebo and analgesic effects in cats with DJD.

Keywords: Osteoarthritis; behavioral change; degenerative joint disease; musculoskeletal disease; outcome measure; pain.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Analgesics
Animals
Cat Diseases* / diagnosis
Cat Diseases* / drug therapy
Cats
Musculoskeletal Pain* / veterinary
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires

Substances

Analgesics