Detailled Information

Hawker G, Davis A, French M, Cibere J, Jordan J, March L, et al. Development and preliminary psychometric testing of a new OA pain measure–an OARSI/OMERACT initiative. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage. 2008;16(4):409-14.

Singh JA, Luo R, Landon GC, Suarez-Almazor M. Reliability and clinically important improvement thresholds for osteoarthritis pain and function scales: a multicenter study.J Rheumatol. 2014 Mar;41(3):509-15    

Moreton BJ, Wheeler M, Walsh DA, Lincoln NB. Rasch analysis of the intermittent and constant osteoarthritis pain (ICOAP) scale. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2012 Oct;20(10):1109-15

Ruyssen-Witrand A, Fernandez-Lopez CJ, Gossec L, Anract P, Courpied JP, Dougados M. Psychometric properties of the OARSI/OMERACT osteoarthritis pain and functional impairment scales: ICOAP, KOOS-PS and HOOS-PS. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2011 Mar-Apr;29(2):231-7

Gonçalves RS, Cabri J, Pinheiro JP, Ferreira PL, Gil J. Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Portuguese version of the intermittent and constant osteoarthritis pain (ICOAP) measure for the knee. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2010 Aug;18(8):1058-61

Maillefert JF1, Kloppenburg M, Fernandes L, Punzi L, Günther KP, Martin Mola E, Lohmander LS, Pavelka K, Lopez-Olivo MA, Dougados M, Hawker GA. Multi-language translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the OARSI/OMERACT measure of intermittent and constant osteoarthritis pain (ICOAP).Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2009 Oct;17(10):1293-6

Alageel M, Al Turki A, Alhandi A, Alohali R, Alsalem R, Aleissa S. Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Arabic Version of the Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain Questionnaire. Sports Med Int Open. 2020 Feb;4(1):E8-E12

The ICOAP is a multidimensional osteoarthritis -specific measure designed to evaluate the pain experience in people with hip or knee OA, including pain intensity, frequency, and impact on mood, sleep, and quality of life, independent of the effect of pain on physical function. It includes evaluation of two distinct types of pain: "constant pain" and "pain that comes and goes" that were identified by people with OA as important.

Both a hip and knee joint version of the ICOAP are available.

Intermittent pain is seen before Constant pain in OA progression; increasing severity of intermittent pain and onset and progression of constant pain have been shown to correlate with x-ray progression in knee OA(Neogi T. The Epidemiology and Impact of Pain in Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2013;21(9):1145–53)

Each item is scored from 0–4. A score is separately calculated for each subscale by summing the items’ subscale scores and then normalizing each score from 0 (no pain) to 100 (extreme pain).  A total ICOAP score can be calculated by summing the 2 subscale scores, and normalizing from 0 (no pain) to 100 (extreme pain).