Validation of the Romanian Version of the 6-Item Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Symptoms Scale and Palmar Pain Scale Questionnaire.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common neuropathy that significantly impacts patients' quality of life and incurs substantial healthcare costs. The 6-item Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Symptom Scale and the Palmar Pain Scale (PPS) are concise, reliable tools widely used to assess CTS symptom severity. Our study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the Romanian version of the 6-item CTS Symptoms Scale in a sample of Romanian-speaking patients. This cross-sectional study involved 118 wrists from 59 Romanian-speaking patients. Each participant completed the CTS-6 scale and nerve conduction studies were carried out on their wrists. The CTS-6 scale was translated into Romanian using a forward-backward translation process. The psychometric properties of the Romanian CTS-6 were assessed, including internal consistency and construct validity (criterion validity, convergent, and divergent validity). The Romanian CTS-6 and PPS demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.93, respectively, 0.92, and strong item-total correlations). Factor analysis confirmed their unidimensional structure, with factor loadings ranging from 0.80 to 0.90. The CTS-6 scores showed moderate correlations with electrophysiological parameters, supporting criterion validity. Divergent validity was shown too. The Romanian version of the 6-item CTS Symptoms Scale and PPS is a valid tool for assessing CTS symptom severity in Romanian-speaking populations.