Pain measurement

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In medicine, pain measurement is the use of "scales, questionnaires, tests, and other methods used to assess pain severity and duration in patients or experimental animals to aid in diagnosis, therapy, and physiological studies."[1]


Numeric rating scale

Pain may be quantified on a pain numeric rating scale (NRS) that ranges from 0-10 points (0 means no pain); however, the accuracy of such as scale (using a cut point of 4 or more) for predicting pain that interferes with functioning is:[2]

Visual analog scale

Visual analog scales (VAS) have been used to measure pain. An observational study concluded "the minimum clinically significant change in patient pain severity measured with a 100-mm visual analog scale was 13 mm."[3]

References

  1. Anonymous (2024), Pain measurement (English). Medical Subject Headings. U.S. National Library of Medicine.
  2. Krebs, Carey, and Weinberger, “Accuracy of the Pain Numeric Rating Scale as a Screening Test in Primary Care,” Journal of General Internal Medicine 22, no. 10 (October 21, 2007): 1453-1458, DOI:10.1007/s11606-007-0321-2 (accessed September 28, 2007)
  3. Todd KH, Funk KG, Funk JP, Bonacci R (April 1996). "Clinical significance of reported changes in pain severity". Ann Emerg Med 27 (4): 485–9. PMID 8604867[e]