MEASUREMENT OF PAIN
Open accessAbstract
Pain is a personal, subjective experience influenced by cultural learning, the meaning of the situation, attention, and other psychologic variables. Approaches to the measurement of pain include verbal and numeric self-rating scales, behavioral observation scales, and physiologic responses. The complex nature of the experience of pain suggests that measurements from these domains may not always show high concordance. Because pain is subjective, patients' self-reports provide the most valid measure of the experience. The VAS and the MPQ are probably the most frequently used self-rating instruments for the measurement of pain in clinical and research settings. The MPQ is designed to assess the multidimensional nature of pain experience and has been demonstrated to be a reliable, valid, and consistent measurement tool. A short-form MPQ is available for use in specific research settings when the time to obtain information from patients is limited and when more information than simply the intensity of pain is desired. The DDS was developed using sophisticated psychophysical techniques and was designed to measure separately the sensory and unpleasantness dimensions of pain. It has been shown to be a valid and reliable measurement of pain with ratio-scaling properties and has recently been used in a clinical setting. Behavioral approaches to the measurement of pain also provide valuable data. Further development and refinement of pain measurement techniques will lead to increasingly accurate tools with greater predictive powers.
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The visual analogue scale, numeric rating scale and verbal rating scale for pain are highly correlated with each other and were considered comparable in this study.
“Previous studies have demonstrated that the visual analogue scale (VAS), numeric rating scale (NRS) and verbal rating scale (VRS) for pain are highly correlated with each other, and thus, they were considered comparable in the present study.31”
From Preoperative predictors of poor acute postoperative pain control: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
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- Authors
- Katz, J., & Melzack, R.
- Affiliations
- Mount Sinai Hospital (CA)
- McGill University (CA)
- ORCID
- Katz, Joel
- Venue
- Surgical Clinics of North America
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1999-04
- Volume
- 79
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 231-252
- ISSN
- 0039-6109 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2037579883
- Cited by
- 723
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 36 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 6.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Surgical Clinics of North America (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- YorkSpace (York University) (submittedVersion)
- York University Digital Library (York University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (1r01ns035480-01a1)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS 35480)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Opioid Use
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pediatric Pain Management Techniques
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Anesthesia and Pain Management
- Keywords
- pain assessment, self-report pain scales, visual analogue scale, McGill Pain Questionnaire, pain intensity, pain unpleasantness, behavioral pain assessment
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Pain, Pain Measurement, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires
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