Studies with different types of visual analog scales for measurement of pain

Abstract

We compared the sensitivity of different types of visual analog scales and of descriptive pain terms in healthy volunteers and in postoperative patients. One hundred and seven volunteers marked visual analog scales according to their perception of the descriptive pain terms--little, mild, some, moderate, severe, agonizing. Individual variation in values and preferences between the five following five different visual analog scales were analyzed: 10-cm linear horizontal and vertical scales, a curvilinear scale, and graded horizontal and curvilinear scales. Significantly more volunteers preferred the horizontal scale with gradations. Scores for the vertical linear scale had the greatest coefficient of variation and were least normally distributed. The majority of volunteers considered the phrase "agonizing pain" the best term defining the extreme limit of pain (X2(12) = 41.8, P less than 0.001). There were significant changes in the values of pain intensity measured on visual analog scales by patients using the same descriptive pain term on successive observations. However, the patients' values for pain terms in the preoperative pain-free state were not significantly different from those during postoperative pain. We conclude that graded linear horizontal scales are both more reliable and preferred by participants and that visual analog scales give a more sensitive and accurate representation of pain intensity than do descriptive pain scales.

A Prospective Randomized Trial of Mini-incision Posterior and Two-incision Total Hip Arthroplasty

“…approaches with THA; however, perioperative pain scores and narcotic consumption were not measured. Although it is still controversial whether an abbreviated surgical approach is associated with a faster recovery, less pain, or improved outcomes [7,10,15,21,22,24], our results suggest, similar to the study of Pour et al [21], that perioperative protocols, patient selection, and preoperative education may have a greater effect on early outcomes than the surgical approach. The length of hospitalization was not different between the two groups of patients in our trial.…”

“…Patients were instructed not to share with the nurse the number of incisions used and they wore shorts during all clinical assessments. Patients were monitored for pain perioperatively using a VAS with 0 corresponding to no pain and 10 to the worst imaginable pain [22]. Pain scores using the VAS for the surgically treated hip were assessed every 8 hours for the immediate postoperative phase (while hospitalized) and then once daily at home for 6 weeks and recorded in a patient diary.…”

Behavioral Graded Activity Following First-Time Lumbar Disc Surgery

“…Relevance, validity, and reliability of the VAS are commonly accepted in the area of low back pain. [33][34][35] At baseline, patients selected two important ADL activities that were severely hampered by their symptoms, in a standardized fashion. These were called Main Complaints (MC).…”

Pain control with paracetamol from a sustained release formulation and a standard release formulation after third molar surgery: a randomised controlled trial

“…These differences are as expected given that SR paracetamol contains sustained release paracetamol and each tablet contains 665 mg paracetamol compared with 500 mg for IR paracetamol. The VAS provides a more sensitive and accurate representation of pain intensity than a descriptive pain scale 17 . This may explain why a statistical significance was noted for SPAID and not for SPID.…”