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Assessment of pain
Breivik H, Borchgrevink PC, Allen SM, Rosseland LA, Romundstad L, Hals EK, Kvarstein G, Stubhaug A.. British journal of anaesthesia, 2008-05-16
Topic: Health services, long-term care and technology
Unlabelled Valid and reliable assessment of pain is essential for both clinical trials and effective pain management. The nature of pain makes objective measurement impossible. Acute pain can be reliably assessed, both at rest (important for comfort) and during movement (important for function and risk of postoperative complications), with one-dimensional tools such as numeric rating scales or visual analogue scales. Both these are more powerful in detecting changes in pain intensity than a verbal categorical rating scale. In acute pain trials, assessment of baseline pain must ensure sufficient pain intensity for the trial to detect meaningful treatment effects. Chronic pain assessment and its impact on physical, emotional, and social functions require multidimensional qualitative tools and health-related quality of life instruments. Several disease- and patient-specific functional scales are useful, such as the Western Ontario and MacMaster Universities for osteoarthritis, and several neuropathic pain screening tools. The Initiative on Methods Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials recommendations for outcome measurements of chronic pain trials are also useful for routine assessment. Cancer pain assessment is complicated by a number of other bodily and mental symptoms such as fatigue and depression, all affecting quality of life. It is noteworthy that quality of life reported by chronic pain patients can be as much affected as that of terminal cancer patients. Any assessment of pain must take into account other factors, such as cognitive impairment or dementia, and assessment tools validated in the specific patient groups being studied.
Key findings
- Several disease- and patient-specific functional scales are useful, such as the Western Ontario and MacMaster Universities for osteoarthritis, and several neuropathic pain screening tools.
- The Initiative on Methods Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials recommendations for outcome measurements of chronic pain trials are also useful for routine assessment.
- Cancer pain assessment is complicated by a number of other bodily and mental symptoms such as fatigue and depression, all affecting quality of life.
- It is noteworthy that quality of life reported by chronic pain patients can be as much affected as that of terminal cancer patients.
- Any assessment of pain must take into account other factors, such as cognitive impairment or dementia, and assessment tools validated in the specific patient groups being studied.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 36/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 36 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (British journal of anaesthesia) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2008 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 18487245) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 21 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 36 out of 100. |
| Total | 36 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 8 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Breivik, H., Borchgrevink, P. C., Allen, S. M., Rosseland, L. A., Romundstad, L., Hals, E. K., et al. (2008). Assessment of pain. British journal of anaesthesia. https://doi.org/10.1093/bja/aen103
Vancouver
Breivik H, Borchgrevink PC, Allen SM, Rosseland LA, Romundstad L, Hals EK, et al. Assessment of pain. British journal of anaesthesia. 2008. doi:10.1093/bja/aen103. PMID: 18487245.
BibTeX
@article{breivik2008-18487245,
author = {Breivik, H. and Borchgrevink, P. C. and Allen, S. M. and Rosseland, L. A. and Romundstad, L. and Hals, E. K. and Kvarstein, G. and Stubhaug, A.},
title = {{Assessment of pain}},
journal = {British journal of anaesthesia},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1093/bja/aen103},
pmid = {18487245},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/bja/aen103}
}