• Lorie L Davis, Kurt Kroenke, Patrick Monahan, Jacob Kean, and Timothy E Stump.
• *Indiana University School of Nursing ‡Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine †VA HSR&D Center for Health Information and Communication, Roudebush VA Medical Center §Regenstrief Institute Inc. ∥Department of Biostatistics, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN.
• Clin J Pain. 2016 May 1; 32 (5): 388-93.

ObjectivesSleep disturbance, pain, anxiety, depression, and low energy/fatigue, the SPADE pentad, are the most prevalent and co-occurring symptoms in the general population and clinical practice. Co-occurrence of SPADE symptoms may produce additive impairment and negatively affect treatment response, potentially undermining patients' health and functioning. The purpose of this paper is to determine: (1) prevalence and comorbidity (ie, clustering) of SPADE symptoms; (2) internal reliability and construct validity of a composite SPADE symptom score derived from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) measures; and (3) whether improvement in somatic symptom burden represented by a composite score predicted subsequent measures of functional status at 3 and 12 months follow-up.MethodsSecondary analysis of data from the Stepped Care to Optimize Pain care Effectiveness study, a randomized trial of a collaborative care intervention for Veterans with chronic pain.ResultsMost patients had multiple SPADE symptoms; only 9.6% of patients were monosymptomatic. The composite PROMIS symptom score had good internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha=0.86) and construct validity and strongly correlated with multiple measures of functional status; improvement in the composite score significantly correlated with higher scores for 5 of 6 functional status outcomes. The standardized error of measurement (SEM) for the composite T-score was 2.84, suggesting a 3-point difference in an individual's composite score may be clinically meaningful.DiscussionBrief PROMIS measures may be useful in evaluating SPADE symptoms and overall symptom burden. Because symptom burden may predict functional status outcomes, better identification and management of comorbid symptoms may be warranted.

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