Table 4.
Reliability coefficient of QST tasks across samples, participant sites, and laboratory examiners for acute MSK pain among youth (n = 277)
| QST parameter | Site variance | Examiner variance | Participant variance | Reliability coefficienta |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure pain threshold (forearm, log10) | 0 | 0.01079 | 0.03827 | 78.0% |
| Pressure pain threshold (trapezius, log10) | 0 | 0.001226 | 0.05380 | 97.8% |
| Heat pain threshold | 0 | 0 | 13.2005 | 100% |
| Cold pain tolerance (ss) | 0 | 0 | 6895.17 | 100% |
| Cold pain rating | 0 | 0 | 4.6265 | 100% |
| Painful after-sensations | 0 | 0 | 5.2219 | 100% |
| Temporal summation of pain | 0 | 0 | 2.2975 | 100% |
| Conditioned pain modulation index | 0.3408 | 0 | 30.5993 | 98.9% |
MSK = musculoskeletal; QST = quantitative sensory testing.
a
Multilevel modeling calculated the reliability coefficient for individual QST task as the variance in the QST values due to individual participants relative to the variance in the QST values due to the individual participants, examiners, and participating sites; the sample effect (Post-MSK Surgery Sample vs. Post-MSK Injury Sample) was controlled as a fixed effect.