Comparing pain intensity rating scales in acute postoperative pain: boundary values and category disagreements
Authors' conclusion
Around 1 in 8 simultaneous pain scores implausibly disagreed, possibly resulting in incorrect pain reporting.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with acute postoperative pain, 4 h to 48 h after surgery, at rest and on activity13,017 pain ratings
- Participants
- 913 patients
- Exposure
- VAS vs verbal rating scale
- Outcome
- Best VAS cut points between mild/moderate and moderate/severe pain
- Follow-up
- Between 4 h and 48 h following surgery
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
VAS cut points
Mild/moderate cut point
35 mm
Moderate/severe cut point
80 mm
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Category disagreements between scales
- Using 30 and 60 mm cut points
- 1533 observations (12%)
- Using 35 and 80 mm cut points
- 1632 (13%)
Original publication
Comparing pain intensity rating scales in acute postoperative pain: boundary values and category disagreements. Anaesthesia. Published 6 December 2023. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →