Cross-cultural adaptation to the Thai language of the neuropathic pain diagnostic questionnaire (DN4)

Abstract

Objective: To cross-culturally adapt the neuropathic pain diagnostic questionnaire (DN4) to Thai language Material and Method: Phase 1: Forward and backward translation followed by assessment of semantic equivalence. Phase 2: Testing of the questionnaire in 30 neuropathic pain patients who were seen and diagnosed by experts, followed by modifications to produce a final version. Results: All the Thai translated pain descriptors except 'tingling' got high percentages of understanding among neuropathic pain patients in the first round of testing. After some adaptation of the Thai word for 'tingling' had been made, the new translated word was retested, and all subjects doing the retest understood the word very well. Conclusion: The Thai DN4 questionnaire was systematically translated and validated. This offers a simple Thai neuropathic pain diagnostic tool for clinical use.