A Systematic Review of the Variation in Pain Catastrophizing Scale Reference Scores Based on Language Version and Country in Patients with Chronic Primary (Non-specific) Pain

Kazuhiro Hayashi; Tatsunori Ikemoto; Yukiko Shiro; Young-Chang Arai; Anna Marcuzzi; Daniel Costa; Paul J Wrigley

doi:10.1007/s40122-022-00390-0

A Systematic Review of the Variation in Pain Catastrophizing Scale Reference Scores Based on Language Version and Country in Patients with Chronic Primary (Non-specific) Pain

Pain Ther. 2022 Sep;11(3):753-769. doi: 10.1007/s40122-022-00390-0. Epub 2022 May 14.

Authors

Kazuhiro Hayashi¹, Tatsunori Ikemoto^{2

3}, Yukiko Shiro⁴, Young-Chang Arai⁴, Anna Marcuzzi^{5

6

7}, Daniel Costa^{5

6

8}, Paul J Wrigley^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
² Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Aichi Medical University, 1-1 Yazako Karimata, Nagakute, Aichi, 480-1195, Japan. tatsunon31-ik@umin.ac.jp.
³ Pain Management Research Institute, Kolling Institute, Northern Sydney Local Health District and The University of Sydney at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia. tatsunon31-ik@umin.ac.jp.
⁴ Multidisciplinary Pain Center, Aichi Medical University, Aichi, Japan.
⁵ The University of Sydney, Northern Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Pain Management Research Institute, Kolling Institute, Northern Sydney Local Health District and The University of Sydney at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁷ Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
⁸ School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

Introduction: This systematic review aimed to investigate variations of reference scores for the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) between language versions and between countries in patients with chronic primary pain (CPP) or chronic primary pain, not otherwise specified (CPP-NOS).

Methods: Electronic searches of the Ovid/Embase, Ovid/MEDLINE, and Ovid/PsycINFO databases were conducted to retrieve studies assessing PCS scores in adults with CPP or CPP-NOS proposed by the International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Revision for any country where the translated PCS was available. The protocol for this systematic review was prospectively registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews 2018 (registration number: CRD 42018086719).

Results: A total of 3634 articles were screened after removal of duplicates. From these, 241 articles reporting on 32,282 patients with chronic pain were included in the review. The mean (± standard deviation) weighted PCS score across all articles was 25.04 ± 12.87. Of the 12 language versions and 21 countries included in the review, the weighted mean PCS score in Asian languages or Asian countries was significantly higher than that in English, European, and other languages or Western and other countries. The highest mean score of the weighted PCS based on language was in Japanese (mean 33.55), and the lowest was in Russian (mean 20.32). The highest mean score of the weighted PCS based on country was from Japan (mean 33.55), and the lowest was from Australia (mean 19.80).

Conclusion: The weighted PCS scores for people with CPP or CPP-NOS were significantly higher in Asian language versions/Asian countries than in English, European and other language versions or Western and other countries.

Keywords: Catastrophization; Chronic primary pain; Culture; Language; Systematic reviews.

Plain language summary

Our previous research has indicated that the clinical significance of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) score would vary across different language versions and different countries (Ikemoto et al. in Eur J Pain 2020; 24(7):1228–1241. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1587 ). This systematic review investigated cross-cultural differences in the PCS score between different languages and countries among patients with chronic primary pain. From 241 articles reporting on 32,282 patients with chronic primary pain, involving 12 language versions and 21 countries, the weighted mean PCS score in Asian languages or Asian countries was significantly higher than that in English, European and other languages or Western and other countries. Given the variations of PCS scores in different contexts, a universal comparison PCS reference or a cutoff score should not be used to compare different cultures even when a sample has the same pain condition.

Publication types

Review