Evaluation Of Pain In Children Research Articles

Validation of an Electronic Visual Analog Scale App for Pain Evaluation in Children and Adolescents With Symptomatic Hypermobility: Cross-sectional Study.

Rapid advances in mobile apps for clinical data collection for pain evaluation have resulted in more efficient data handling and analysis than traditional paper-based approaches. As paper-based visual analogue scale (p-VAS) scores are commonly used to assess pain levels, new emerging apps need to be validated prior to clinical application with symptomatic children and adolescents. This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of an electronic visual analogue scale (e-VAS) method via a mobile health (mHealth) App in children and adolescents diagnosed with hypermobility spectrum disorder/hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (HSD/HEDS) in comparison with the traditional p-VAS. Children diagnosed with HSD/HEDS aged 5-18 years were recruited from a sports medicine center in Sydney (New South Wales, Australia). Consenting participants assigned in random order to the e-VAS and p-VAS platforms were asked to indicate their current lower limb pain level and completed pain assessment e-VAS or p-VAS at one time point. Instrument agreement between the 2 methods was determined from the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and through Bland-Altman analysis. In total, 43 children with HSD/HEDS aged 11 (SD 3.8) years were recruited and completed this study. The difference between the 2 VAS platforms of median values was 0.20. Bland-Altman analysis revealed a difference of 0.19 (SD 0.95) with limits of agreement ranging -1.67 to 2.04. An ICC of 0.87 (95% CI 0.78-0.93) indicated good reliability. These findings suggest that the e-VAS mHealth App is a validated tool and a feasible method of collecting pain recording scores when compared with the traditional paper format in children and adolescents with HSD/HEDS. The e-VAS App can be reliably used for pediatric pain evaluation, and it could potentially be introduced into daily clinical practice to improve real-time symptom monitoring. Further research is warranted to investigate the usage of the app for remote support in real clinical settings.

Evaluation of pain in children using animated emoji scale: A novel self-reporting pain assessment tool

Background: Pain perception of children in dental clinics is difficult to assess. Conventionally, visual analog scale (VAS) and Wong–Baker Faces Pain Scale (WBFPS) are used as self-reporting pain assessment tools in children. Novel animated emoji scale (AES) is recently introduced for pain assessment in pediatric patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pain using the novel AES in 3–14-year-old children and to compare it with frequently used VAS and WBFPS. Methods: A cross-sectional study recruited 266 patients in the 3–14-year age group with their first dental visit. Participants were divided into three groups on the basis of age: Group I–3–6 years, Group II–7–10 years, and Group III–11–14 years, and the pain was recorded using self-reporting tools, i.e., VAS, WBFPS, and recently introduced AES after the completion of dental procedure. Data were evaluated using the Pearson correlation test and Chi-square test. Results: A strong positive correlation among VAS, WBFPS, and AES in all the groups was observed (P < 0.05). AES was preferred more over VAS and WBFPS in all the groups for pain assessment (P < 0.001). Conclusions: AES as a self-reporting tool can be used frequently to assess the pain in children. AES was preferred over VAS and WBFPS due to its ease of understanding by children.

Effect of vibration devices on pain associated with dental injections in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Several methods including vibration have been proposed for pain control during a local anaesthetic injection. This study was aimed to evaluate the scientific evidence on vibration devices used to reduce injection pain perception in children. The search terms were chosen according to the Medical Subject Headings MeSH and non-MeSH. Potentially eligible studies involved the subjective or objective pain evaluation in children receiving any type of dental injection. An electronic search of published studies in English language was carried out in March 2020 on Scopus, Cochrane, and PubMed databases.Of 1659 articles retrieved initially, 14 were eligible to be included in the systematic review, of which eight articles were excluded. The vibration devices used in the studies included Buzzy or DentalVibe. Four studies using Dentalvibe contributed to the meta-analysis. The results of meta-analysis indicated a mean difference of 0.057 for FLACC pain scores between intervention and control conditions (P-value=0.740). Wong-Baker Faces scores showed a mean difference of 0.009 (P-value=0.964), which also showed no statistically significant difference between the intervention and control groups. The findings revealed that use of DentalVibe for Paediatric dental injections was not effective in reducing pain perception. However, use of Buzzy showed promising results.

Evaluation of pain in children of 2, 4 and 6 months after the application of non-pharmacological analgesia methods during vaccination

IntroductionYoung children perceive pain as much, or even more than adults, and the pain may have short- and long-term consequences. The literature describes the use of non-pharmacological interventions to alleviate pain during vaccination. The aim of this study was to assess 3 such interventions for analgesia during vaccination: non-nutritive sucking (NNS), breastfeeding (BF), and administration of a 50% dextrose solution (D50W). Materials and methodsA prospective, non-randomised cohort study was carried out on infants aged 2, 4 and 6 months that received 1, 2, or 3 vaccines, respectively, according to the routine immunisation schedule. There were 3 treatments: NNS, BF, and 2mL of D50W combined with NNS. Pain was assessed using the LLANTO scale, and the duration of crying. ResultsThe study included 387 infants. The mean scores in the LLANTO scale at ages 2 and 6 months were significantly lower in breastfed infants compared to infants managed with NNS (P=.025 and P<.001, respectively), or infants given D50W (P=.025 and P=.001), and the difference was not statistically significant at age 4 months (P=.21 and P=.27). There were no significant differences between infants managed with NNS and D50W at 2, 4, and 6 months (P=.66, P=.93 and P=.45, respectively). The duration of crying was significantly lower at age 6 months in breastfeed infants compared to infants managed with NNS or D50W (P=.013 and P=.017). No breastfed child (n=129) experienced side effects. ConclusionsIn infants born to term with adequate weight for gestational age, breastfeeding reduces pain on the administration of 1 or 2 vaccines. When 3 vaccines are given, the reduction is minimal. Administration of D50W does not have any additional analgesic effect in infants compared to being held by a parent combined with NNS during vaccination. BF during vaccination is not associated with any side effects.

Orofacial pain evaluation in children.

Pain evaluation in children and its diagnosis are problems not always easy to solve. Children, because of their immaturity, are not always able to well communicate or to describe the clear characteristics of the disease by which they are affected. Moreover, they are often unable to report the real intensity of the pain they experience. These problems are related to their immature, not fully evolved psyche. Such problems can create difficulties to the physician who is called to examine and evaluate the origin of orofacial pain, as well as hesitation regarding when it could be necessary to start a drug therapy. Aim of this work is to propose the basic tools for the evaluation and measurement of pain that are better suitable for children, as these instruments can be used together with an accurate anamnesis and a meticulous examination, in order to formulate a precise differential diagnosis among the pathologies that affect the head and neck. A list of the most common painful diseases affecting this area is also presented. A systematic literature review about the methods for evaluation and measurement of pain in children was conducted. The commonly used scales of measurement were examined: VAS, VSN, CAS, FPS and the Oucher SCALE. The different pathologies of head and neck and their characteristics are described and the possible causes of orofacial pain have been divided into extracranial and intracranial, in order to easily direct diagnosis. Orofacial pain in children is an issue of great interest in consideration of its high frequency in paediatric dentistry. Its measurement and evaluation is possible despite the small compliance of paediatric patients. Thanks to the modern technique and knowledge this evaluation can be realistic and reproducible. Evaluation scales of pain are suitable at any age and skill of the child and, together with a careful anamnesis and a proper clinical examination, allow the clinician to conduct a precise differential diagnosis of the pain so as to set the ideal therapy for the little patient.

Evaluation of pain in children submitted to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Objective: to evaluate pain in children undergoing transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells. Methods: longitudinal and analytical research with children hospitalized for transplant of hematopoietic stem cells with Faces Pain Scale Revised, every four hours from hospital admission to hospital discharge analyzed with relative/absolute frequency and chi-square test. Results: nine children aged four to nine years old were evaluated, totaling 1,095 ratings 23.4% were reported with some pain score; of these, 38.9% were in hypo pharynx region; 78.8%, moderate pain. The chi-square showed significance between pain scores weeks post-transplantation and pain existence among the analyzed children. Conclusion: although the pain has not affected large proportion of children, moderate and strong pain covered around 80.0% of complaints along the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation process. Thus, it is suggested that the evaluation of pain is one of the signs to be inserted in the protocols of nursing interventions in this context of caring.

Evaluation of pain in children with communication difficulties: r-FLACC translated and validated in Nordic languages

Evaluation of pain in children with communication difficulties: r-FLACC translated and validated in Nordic languages

Glowing in the dark: time of day as a determinant of radiographic imaging in the evaluation of abdominal pain in children

Glowing in the dark: time of day as a determinant of radiographic imaging in the evaluation of abdominal pain in children

Validity and reliability of two pain assessment tools in Brazilian children and adolescents

The aim of this research is to examine the validity and reliability of the Brazilian version of the Revised Faces Pain Scale and the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scale. Several self-report and behavioural pain tools have been shown to have good psychometric properties for the evaluation of pain in children and adolescents. This study was designed to analyse the correlation between two pain scales in school-age children and adolescents. This is a validation study. This research studied 90 children between 7-17 years old. They received care at the outpatient and the inpatient departments of the National Cancer Institute of Brazil. A self-report tool, the Revised Faces Pain Scale, was used by children and adolescents to measure their pain, while the observational Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scale was used by the healthcare providers to measure pain. The Face, Legs, Activity, Cry and Consolability scale presented a good internal consistency (Cronbach α coefficient = 0·76). There was a moderate-to-good correlation between the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry and Consolability scale and the Revised Faces Pain Scale scores (Spearman's coefficient = 0·74). Findings support the reliability and the validity of the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scale and the Revised Faces Pain Scale as a measure of pain in the Brazilian population. The validity and the reliability of both scales will improve pain evaluation and treatment in Brazilian children and adolescents, leading to a better pain control.

Fat-containing lesions revealed by CT in children with right lower quadrant pain

Suspected appendicitis is the most common indication for emergent abdominal surgery in children. The clinical diagnosis of appendicitis can be challenging, and CT is playing an increasing role in the evaluation of right lower quadrant pain. Occasionally, alternative diagnoses to appendicitis can be suggested on CT. The appreciation of a fat-containing lesion in the right lower quadrant will often allow a specific diagnosis. Importantly, many of these lesions are self-limited and treated nonoperatively. The purpose of this pictorial essay is to illustrate the spectrum of fat-containing lesions that can present as alternative diagnoses to appendicitis on CT scans performed for the evaluation of right lower quadrant pain in children.

Existing methods of pain evaluation in children: an overview

The assessment of pain in others is always a complex tasks for health-care professionals and maybe especially difficult with the child patient. This article details existing methods of pain assessment suitable for use with children and discusses the special difficulties of pain assessment in this client group.

Pain in children with cancer: models of evaluation

Control and alleviation of pain in the care to children with cancer are objects of nursing concern in the search for interventions that are able to minimize or avoid physical-emotional problems in these children. Medical, psychological and nursing literatures describe pain through physiological, emotional, behavioural and environmental aspects in several models of scales of pain evaluation and control. This study describes some models of evaluation of pain in children and presents the adaptation of the Scale Model of Visual Analogy of Faces by McGrath (1990), as an instrument to be used in nursing care to children with cancer. Although the literature utilized on this study gives emphasis on the evaluation and control of pain in children with cancer, we verify the viability of applying this model by nursing in other situations of pain.

Evaluation of Chest Pain in Children

Childhood chest pain is a common complaint and often a recurrent, chronic symptom. A detailed history and complete physical examination are the most important aspects of evaluating a child with chest pain. Childhood chest pain has a good prognosis. Laboratory tests should only be ordered if they are indicated on the basis of history and physical examination findings.

Evaluation of chest pain in children.

Childhood chest pain is a common complaint and often a recurrent, chronic symptom. A detailed history and complete physical examination are the most important aspects of evaluating a child with chest pain. Childhood chest pain has a good prognosis. Laboratory tests should only be ordered if they are indicated on the basis of history and physical examination findings.