The Relationship of PROMIS Pain Interference and Physical Function Scales.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between the Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Pain Interference (PI) and PROMIS Physical Function (PF) scales in patients with spinal pain at a university spine center.

Design: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected patient-reported outcome data at a university spine clinic. Pearson correlation was done to examine the relationship of the PROMIS PF and PROMIS PI scores. Age, gender, and race were analyzed by subgroups on the PROMIS Physical Function and Pain Interference score. Linear regression analyzed predictive relationships. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.

Results: A total of 1,992 participants completed an assessment, with 1,923 completing the PF CAT and 1,927 the PI CAT. Participants' mean age was 52.8 years (range = 18-94 years, SD = 6.5 years). Correlation analysis of the PROMIS PF with the PROMIS PI showed a Pearson correlation value of -0.717 (P < 0.05). There was a strong linear relationship with a high negative correlation between PF CAT and PI CAT. The PI CAT predicted PF CAT scores (β = -0.707, P < 0.001).

Conclusions: For patients with pain from spinal origin, there is a strong negative correlation between self-reported physical function and pain interference related to physical, social, and mental health. The predictive relationship of function from pain scores supports the PROMIS PI being used as an important adjunct measure of physical function in patients with spinal pain.