Open AccessPain Assessment in Younger and Older Pain Patients: Psychometric Properties and Patient Preference of Five Commonly Used Measures of Pain Intensity
Author(s) -
Peters Madelon L.,
Patijn Jacob,
Lamé Inge
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
pain medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.893
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1526-4637
pISSN - 1526-2375
DOI - 10.1111/j.1526-4637.2007.00311.x
Subject(s) - medicine , preference , intensity (physics) , physical therapy , pain assessment , pain catastrophizing , chronic pain , pain management , physics , quantum mechanics , economics , microeconomics
Objective. To study the psychometric properties and preference for five different pain intensity scales (horizontal visual analog scale [VAS], vertical VAS, Box‐11, Box‐21, and verbal descriptor scale) across different age groups. Design. Chronic pain patients rated their present, average, weakest, and strongest pain on five different scales, and indicated scale preference. Setting. Outpatient pain facility. Results. The number of mistakes on all scales increased with increasing age, and the VAS appeared to be most prone to making mistakes. All scales appeared to be sufficiently valid, but the verbal descriptor scale was less related to the common underlying pain factor than the other scales. The Box‐21 was the most preferred scale overall, although patients aged >75 years especially preferred the verbal descriptor scale. Conclusion. The numerical Box‐21 scale is an excellent choice for pain intensity assessment in heterogeneous patient groups. The verbal descriptor scales may be considered when the study population consists of a majority of older persons.