A German version of the Extended Aberdeen Back Pain Scale: development and evaluation.

STUDY DESIGN: Psychometric testing of translated, culturally adapted questionnaire.

OBJECTIVES: Cross-cultural adaptation of the German version of the Extended Aberdeen Back Pain Scale (EABPS, three questionnaires), and to evaluate its use for assessing back pain related health status and disability in German patients.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The EABPS can be used as one questionnaire for the whole spine or three questionnaires for the three parts of the spine: neck, upper back, and lower back. It was shown to be valid, reliable, and responsive. No German version was available.

METHODS: The EABPS was translated and adapted. The three questionnaires were evaluated separately. A total of 158 outpatients with neck pain, upper back pain, and/or low back pain were assessed by the EABPS-G at admission, 148 patients 1 day later for retest. For testing responsiveness, the standardized response mean (SRM) was chosen and for criterion validity a generic and cLBP-specific measure (SF-36 and FFbH-R).

RESULTS: Between the first and second questionnaire, high correlations (from 0.93 to 0.95) represent a very high level of test-retest reliability. Criterion validity showed high (negative) correlations between the questionnaires for the three spinal areas on the one side and the FFbH-R and the SF-36 on the other. The SRM for the three questionnaires indicated remarkable changes ranging from 1.36 to 1.96.

CONCLUSIONS: The EABPS-G is a valid, reliable, and responsive questionnaire for assessing health status and disability influenced by pain in one or more area of the spine and allows intercultural comparisons with the original English version. It could be used for assessment of current state as well as measurement for change.