Applications of mcgill pain questionnaire as an assessment tool for patients with pain: literature review

Pain is the most distressing consequence ever experienced by the patients during their life journey. Pain assessment is vital in supporting the diagnosis of the source of pain and for effective treatment. McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) is a multidimensional tool widely used clinically to evaluate significant qualities of pain. It can be used to assess the pain over time and to determine the usefulness of any intervention. It was developed by Dr. Melzack at McGill University in Montreal Canada and updated for another two versions; the latest version being enabled to assess both neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain. It demonstrated good construct and concurrent validity. The objective of this paper was to review the published literature to describe the applications of MPQ in pain assessment. From the eligible studies, 23 different MPQ language versions and 5 adapted versions were identified. The MPQ has been adopted as a pain assessment tool in many countries and validated in different patient populations such as those with cancer pain, low back pain and post-operative pain. Validity and reliability of the MPQ as a qualitative and quantitative measure of pain for statistical analysis among cross cultures and languages were shown.