Pain is the foremost complication to chronic pancreatitis (CP), but no validated questionnaires for assessment exist. The COMPAT questionnaire includes all relevant pain dimensions in CP, but a short form is needed to make it usable in clinical practice.
The full COMPAT questionnaire was completed by 91 patients and systematically reduced to six questions. Pain severity and analgesic use were merged, leaving five pain dimensions. The pain dimension ratings were normalized to a 0-100 scale, and the weighted total score was calculated, where three dimensions weighted double. Reliability of the short-form was tested in a test-retest study in 76 patients, and concurrent validity tested against the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and Izbicki pain questionnaire. Convergent validity was verified using confirmatory factor analysis, and criterion validity tested against quality-of-life and hospitalization rates.
The COMPAT-SF questionnaire consisted of the following pain dimensions: a) pain severity, b) pain pattern, c) factors provoking pain, d) widespread pain, and e) a qualitative pain-describing dimension. Quality-of-life correlated with the total score and all pain dimensions (p<0.05). The total score, pain severity, pain pattern, and factors provoking pain were correlated with hospitalization rates (p<0.05). The total score correlated with the Izbicki and BPI scores (p<0.0001). The reliability of the questionnaire in patients in a stable phase was good with ICC=0.89.
The COMPAT-SF questionnaire includes the most relevant aspects of pain in CP and is a feasible, reliable, and valid pain assessment instrument recommended to be used in future trials.

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