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Measurement of pain in children with self‐reporting and behavioral assessment
Author(s) -
Maunuksela EevaLiisa,
Olkkola Klaus T,
Korpela Reijo
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1038/clpt.1987.123
Subject(s) - analgesic , rating scale , correlation , clinical pharmacology , visual analogue scale , pain assessment , medicine , consistency (knowledge bases) , scale (ratio) , clinical psychology , psychology , anesthesia , physical therapy , pain management , developmental psychology , pharmacology , physics , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics
There are several studies on the correlation of various pain‐rating scales in adults but few such studies have been done on children. To gain information on the correlation of self‐reporting pain scales (one verbal and two visual analog scales) with each other and with a scale based on behavioral assessment, we analyzed retrospectively the pain evaluations of 141 pediatric patients participating in our analgesic studies. Eighty‐two patients were male and 59 were female. The ages ranged from 1.6 to 17.6 years. The patients were divided into three age groups. All pain‐rating scales were correlated (P < 0.001) with each other and they showed a good internal consistency. There were no differences in correlation coefficients between the age groups and the two sexes. Accordingly, any of the now‐employed scales can be used in clinical analgesic studies in children on the condition that the child has comprehended the use of the scale during the preoperative visit. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1987) 42, 137–141; doi: 10.1038/clpt.1987.123