On the electronic measurement of pain intensity: Can we use different pain intensity scales interchangeably?

Abstract

The objective of this work was to study the agreement between four pain intensity scales when administered electronically: the Numerical Rating Scale-11, the Faces Pain Scale-Revised, the Visual Analogue Scale and the Coloured Analogue Scale. In all, 180 schoolchildren between 12 and 19 years old participated in the study. They had to report the maximum intensity of their most frequent pain using the electronic versions of the four scales. Agreement was calculated using the Bland-Altman method. Results show that the electronic versions of Numerical Rating Scale-11, Coloured Analogue Scale and Visual Analogue Scale can be used interchangeably.