Stroke is relatively rare in children, but can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Understanding that children with strokes present differently than adults and often present with unique risk factors will optimize outcomes in children. Despite an increased incidence of pediatric stroke, there is often a delay in diagnosis, and cases may still remain under- or misdiagnosed. Clinical presentation will vary based on the child's age, and children will have risk factors for stroke that are less common than in adults. Management strategies in children are extrapolated primarily from adult studies, but with different considerations regarding short-term anticoagulation and guarded recommendations regarding thrombolytics. Although most recommendations for management are extrapolated from adult populations, they still remain useful, in conjunction with pediatric-specific considerations.

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: The Faces Pain Scale-Revised and Color Analog Scale are self-report pain scales that are commonly used for children in the clinical and research settings. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:The Faces Pain Scale-Revised and Color Analog Scale overall demonstrate strong psychometric properties in children 4 to 17 years of age, including within subgroups of age, sex, and ethnicity. Convergent validity, however, is questionable in children ,7 years old. abstract BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R) and Color Analog Scale (CAS) are self-report pain scales commonly used in children but insufficiently validated in the emergency department setting. Our objectives were to determine the psychometric properties (convergent validity, discriminative validity, responsivity, and reliability) of the FPS-R and CAS, and to determine whether degree of validity varied based on age, sex, and ethnicity. METHODS:We conducted a prospective, observational study of Englishand Spanish-speaking children ages 4 to 17 years. Children with painful conditions indicated their pain severity on the FPS-R and CAS before and 30 minutes after analgesia. We assessed convergent validity (Pearson correlations, Bland-Altman method), discriminative validity (comparing pain scores in children with pain against those without pain), responsivity (comparing pain scores pre-and postanalgesia), and reliability (Pearson correlations, repeatability coefficient). RESULTS:Of 620 patients analyzed, mean age was 9.2 6 3.8 years, 291 (46.8%) children were girls, 341(55%) were Hispanic, and 313(50.5%) were in the younger age group (,8 years). Pearson correlation was 0.85, with higher correlation in older children and girls. Lower convergent validity was noted in children ,7 years of age. All subgroups based on age, sex, and ethnicity demonstrated discriminative validity and responsivity for both scales. Reliability was acceptable for both the FPS-R and CAS. CONCLUSIONS:The FPS-R and CAS overall demonstrate strong psychometric properties in children ages 4 to 17 years, and between subgroups based on age, sex, and ethnicity. Convergent validity was questionable in children ,7 years old. Pediatrics 2013;132:e971-e979 AUTHORS:

Convergent validity, known-groups validity, responsivity, and reliability of the Verbal Numerical Rating Scale were strong for children aged 6 to 17 years. Convergent validity was not strong for children aged 4 and 5 years. Our findings support the use of the Verbal Numerical Rating Scale for most children aged 6 years and older, but not for those aged 4 and 5 years.

Objectives The objective was to determine the minimum and ideal clinically significant differences (MCSD, ICSD) of the Faces Pain Scale–Revised (FPS-R) and the Color Analog Scale (CAS) in children and to identify any differences in these estimates based on patient characteristics. Methods This was a prospective study of children aged 4 to 17 years with acute pain presenting to two urban pediatric emergency departments. Participants self-reported their pain severity using the FPS-R and CAS and qualitatively described their changes in pain. Changes in pain score reported using the FPS-R and CAS that were associated with “a little less” and “much less” pain (MCSD and ICSD, respectively) were identified using a receiver operating characteristic–based method and expressed as raw change score and percent reductions. Estimates of MCSD and ICSD were determined for each category of initial pain severity (mild, moderate, and severe) and patient characteristics (age, sex, and ethnicity). Post hoc exploratory analyses evaluated categories of race, primary language, and etiology of pain. Results A total of 314 children with acute pain were enrolled; mean (±SD) age was 9.8 (±3.8) years. The FPS-R raw change score and percent reduction MCSD estimates were 2/10 and 25%, with ICSD estimates of 3/10 and 60%. For the CAS, raw change score and percent reduction MCSD estimates were 1/10 and 15%, with ICSD estimates of 2.75/10 and 52%. For both scales, raw change score and percent reduction estimates of the MCSD remained unchanged in children with either moderate or severe pain. For both scales, estimates of ICSD were not stable across categories of initial pain severity. There was no difference in MCSD or ICSD based on age, sex, ethnicity, race, primary language, or etiology of pain. Conclusions The MCSD estimates can be expressed as raw change score and percent reductions for the FPS-R and CAS. These estimates appear stable for children with moderate to severe pain, irrespective of age, sex, and ethnicity. Estimates of ICSD were not stable across different categories of initial pain severity, therefore limiting their potential generalizability.

Nine milligrams of INK per kilogram produced a significantly higher proportion of successful sedations than the 3- and 6-mg/kg doses.