Abstract
BackgroundAccurate quantification of pain in a clinical setting is vital. The use of an electronic pain scale enables data to be collected, analyzed, and utilized much faster compared with traditional paper-based scales. The advancement of smart technology in pediatric and adult pain evaluation may offer opportunities to introduce easy-to-use and reliable pain assessment methods within different clinical settings. If promptly introduced within different pediatric and adult pain clinic services, validated and easily accessible mobile health pain apps may lead to early pain detection, promoting improvement in patient’s quality of life and leading to potentially less time off from school or work.ObjectiveThis cross-sectional observational study aimed to investigate the interchangeability of an electronic visual analog scale (eVAS) app with a traditional paper visual analog scale (pVAS) among Australian children, adolescents, and adults for pain evaluation.MethodsHealthy participants (age range 10-75 years) were recruited from a sporting club and a secondary school in Melbourne (Australia). The data collection process involved application of pressure (8.5 kg/cm2) from a Wagner Force Dial FDK 20 to the midpoint of the thumb. The pressure was applied twice with a 5-minute interval. At each pressure application, participants were asked to randomly record their pain perception using the “eVAS” accessible via the “Interactive Clinics” app and the traditional pVAS. Statistical analysis was conducted to determine intermethod and intramethod reliabilities.ResultsOverall, 109 healthy participants were recruited. Adults (mean age 42.43 years, SD 14.50 years) had excellent reliability, with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.94 (95% CI 0.91-0.96). Children and adolescents (mean age 13.91 years, SD 2.89 years) had moderate-to-good intermethod and intramethod reliabilities, with an ICC of 0.80 (95% CI 0.70-0.87) and average ICC of 0.80 (95% CI 0.69-0.87), respectively.ConclusionsThe eVAS app appears to be interchangeable compared with the traditional pVAS among children, adolescents, and adults. This pain evaluation method may offer new opportunities to introduce user-friendly and validated pain assessment apps for patients, clinicians, and allied health professionals.
Highlights
Pain is a complex and multifactorial phenomenon that can negatively impact a patient’s health-related quality of life [1]
Adults had excellent reliability, with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.94
The electronic visual analog scale (eVAS) app appears to be interchangeable compared with the traditional paper visual analog scale (pVAS) among children, adolescents, and adults
Summary
Pain is a complex and multifactorial phenomenon that can negatively impact a patient’s health-related quality of life [1]. Symptom progression has been recorded using the visual analog scale (VAS), Wong Baker scale, numeric rating scale, verbal rating scale, and faces pain scale-revised [3,4,5,6] These tools have been extensively validated as appropriate measures for assessing pain and are commonly used daily by allied health professionals (AHPs). Drawn face scales may result in incorrect recordings if a child experiences difficulty in distinguishing between the feeling of pain and the emotional state, and smiling faces could result in overestimation of pain intensity [4] These limitations are mostly based on paper pain scales being cumbersome, occasionally complex to use, and at risk of possible practitioner error [8]. If promptly introduced within different pediatric and adult pain clinic services, validated and accessible mobile health pain apps may lead to early pain detection, promoting improvement in patient’s quality of life and leading to potentially less time off from school or work
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