Development of the Japanese Version of the 5-D Itch Scale

Abstract

Quantitative evaluation of itch is important in assessing the treatment efficacy of itchy skin diseases. Especially for the evaluation of a specific anti-pruritic therapy, itch measurement should be performed according to a unified worldwide standard criterion. For this purpose, validation and harmonization studies of representative itch scales, such as the visual analogue scale, have been established. The 5D itch scale is made up of a simple self-administered questionnaire evaluating 5 domains of itch: duration, degree, direction, disability, and distribution. It was developed in USA in 2009 and has the advantage of providing a score. In this study, we created a Japanese version of the 5D itch scale using the standardized forward/backward translation method with a pretest.