Ability of the Canine Brief Pain Inventory to Detect Response to Treatment in Dogs with Osteoarthritis

Objective: To determine whether the Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI) can detect changes in dogs with osteoarthritis treated with an NSAID or a placebo.

Design: Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Animals: 70 dogs with osteoarthritis.

Procedures: Owners completed the CBPI on day 0. Dogs received carprofen or a placebo on days 1 through 14. Owners completed the CBPI again on day 14. Pain severity and pain interference scores from the CBPI were calculated, and the change from day 0 to day 14 was assessed within each group and between groups.

Results: No significant differences were detected in median scores for pain severity (3.50 and 3.25 on days 0 and 14, respectively) and pain interference (3.92 and 3.25 on days 0 and 14, respectively) in dogs receiving the placebo. Dogs receiving carprofen had significant changes in median scores for pain severity (4.25 to 2.25 on days 0 and 14, respectively) and pain interference (4.33 to 2.67 on days 0 and 14, respectively).There was a significantly greater improvement in pain severity and pain interference scores in dogs treated with carprofen, compared with improvement in scores for dogs receiving the placebo.

Conclusions And Clinical Relevance: The CBPI was able to detect improvements in pain scores in dogs with osteoarthritis treated with an NSAID or a placebo. These results, in combination with previous reliability and validity testing, support the use of the CBPI to obtain quantifiable assessments from owners regarding the severity and impact of chronic pain and treatment for dogs with osteoarthritis.