TY - JOUR
T1 - Validity of four pain intensity rating scales
AU - Ferreira-Valente, Maria Alexandra
AU - Pais-Ribeiro, José Luís
AU - Jensen, Mark P.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge José Elísio Pereira for his contribution in the construction of the apparatus, and to Rita Ferreira and Vera Melo for their assistance in data collection. M. Alexandra Ferreira-Valente received PhD grant SFRH/BD/40956/2007 in the past year from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. José L. Pais Ribeiro received a sabbatical grant from FCT (SFRH/BSAB/982/2010) between January and April 2010. Mark P. Jensen received research support, consulting fees, or honoraria in the past year from Analgesic Research, Consultants in Behavioral Research, Endo, Fralex, Medtronic, Merck, Pfizer, Smith & Nephew, US Department of Education, US Department of Veterans Affairs, and the US National Institutes of Health.
PY - 2011/10
Y1 - 2011/10
N2 - The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), Verbal Rating Scale (VRS), and the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R) are among the most commonly used measures of pain intensity in clinical and research settings. Although evidence supports their validity as measures of pain intensity, few studies have compared them with respect to the critical validity criteria of responsivity, and no experiment has directly compared all 4 measures in the same study. The current study compared the relative validity of VAS, NRS, VRS, and FPS-R for detecting differences in painful stimulus intensity and differences between men and women in response to experimentally induced pain. One hundred twenty-seven subjects underwent four 20-second cold pressor trials with temperature order counterbalanced across 1°C, 3°C, 5°C, and 7°C and rated pain intensity using all 4 scales. Results showed statistically significant differences in pain intensity between temperatures for each scale, with lower temperatures resulting in higher pain intensity. The order of responsivity was as follows: NRS, VAS, VRS, and FPS-R. However, there were relatively small differences in the responsivity between scales. A statistically significant sex main effect was also found for the NRS, VRS, and FPS-R. The findings are consistent with previous studies supporting the validity of each scale. The most support emerged for the NRS as being both (1) most responsive and (2) able to detect sex differences in pain intensity. The results also provide support for the validity of the scales for use in Portuguese samples.
AB - The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), Verbal Rating Scale (VRS), and the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R) are among the most commonly used measures of pain intensity in clinical and research settings. Although evidence supports their validity as measures of pain intensity, few studies have compared them with respect to the critical validity criteria of responsivity, and no experiment has directly compared all 4 measures in the same study. The current study compared the relative validity of VAS, NRS, VRS, and FPS-R for detecting differences in painful stimulus intensity and differences between men and women in response to experimentally induced pain. One hundred twenty-seven subjects underwent four 20-second cold pressor trials with temperature order counterbalanced across 1°C, 3°C, 5°C, and 7°C and rated pain intensity using all 4 scales. Results showed statistically significant differences in pain intensity between temperatures for each scale, with lower temperatures resulting in higher pain intensity. The order of responsivity was as follows: NRS, VAS, VRS, and FPS-R. However, there were relatively small differences in the responsivity between scales. A statistically significant sex main effect was also found for the NRS, VRS, and FPS-R. The findings are consistent with previous studies supporting the validity of each scale. The most support emerged for the NRS as being both (1) most responsive and (2) able to detect sex differences in pain intensity. The results also provide support for the validity of the scales for use in Portuguese samples.
KW - Faces Pain Scale
KW - Numerical Rating Scale
KW - Pain assessment
KW - Validity
KW - Verbal Rating Scale
KW - Visual Analogue Scale
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80053187232&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.pain.2011.07.005
DO - 10.1016/j.pain.2011.07.005
M3 - Article
C2 - 21856077
AN - SCOPUS:80053187232
VL - 152
SP - 2399
EP - 2404
JO - Pain
JF - Pain
SN - 0304-3959
IS - 10
ER -