Articles: pain-measurement.
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One hundred and ten outpatients with either acute or chronic low-back pain completed the McGill Pain Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Life Experiences Survey. Acutes and chronics did not differ on dimensions of pain, but significant correlations between pain dimensions and depression and state anxiety were found for chronics. ⋯ Combined scores on depression, anxiety, and negative life change predicted sensory and affective pain for the pooled sample. These results confirm the role of psychological variables in the experience of clinical pain and underscore the highly affective nature of chronic pain.
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The cold pressor test elicits an emotional/motivational pain experience from the immersion of a limb in cold water. It has been widely used to evaluate (experimental and chronic) pain. However, normative models for quantification and comparison for pain tolerance have not previously been established. ⋯ The results indicate that at any given age Anglo-Saxon males have the longest tolerance time followed by non-Anglo-Saxon males, Anglo-Saxon females, and finally non-Anglo-Saxon females. There is a consistent decrease in tolerance time as the male age increases and minimal change in tolerance time as the female age increases. Chronic pain patients exhibited the same type of pain response pattern as healthy volunteers when corrected for age, sex, and ethnocultural subgroup.
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Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol · Feb 1989
Comparative StudyAcceptability of visual analogue scales in the clinical setting: a comparison with verbal rating scales in postoperative pain.
Pain is the clinical symptom most difficult to evaluate. Although clinical trials methodology have permitted assessment of pain objectively through rating scales, these strategies have not been used in clinical setting. The present study was undertaken to determine if visual analogue scales could be useful in the measurement of postoperative pain in usual medical practice. ⋯ The VAS of patients and researchers were also found to be highly correlated (p less than 0.001). When values of each group were compared by pain intensity a total agreement of VAS scores at low pain level could be established, but differences were found at high pain intensity levels, suggesting that physicians scored lower than patients when pain was severe to unbearable. It is concluded that VAS could be a reliable method to assess pain in clinical setting.
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Visual analogue scales (VAS) for overall and individual joint pain at rest and on movement were completed by 105 patients with polyarthritis as part of a study of the relationship between overall pain and pain in individual joints. Not all subjects recorded pain on a conventional VAS although all had at least 2 painful joints on movement. At best only 25% of the variance in overall pain was explained by pain in individual joints. Our findings suggest that conventional overall measures of pain in arthritis may neglect aspects of pain experience which relate to individual joints and to pain on movement.
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A new argon laser technique was introduced to evaluate the excitability of the free nerve endings in the skin following topical application of capsaicin. Short argon laser pulses can be perceived as distinct, painful pin pricks and the pain threshold can be determined. This gives the possibility to follow changes in sensory and pain thresholds after topical application of various substances. ⋯ Capsaicin was applied to human skin once daily for 21 days, and the pain threshold was significantly increased after 10 days of application, and after 21 days the increase was found to be 260%. After termination of capsaicin treatment the thresholds were monitored for 21 days, and normalization occurred after 7 days. Argon laser stimulation is a reliable method to evaluate sensory and pain thresholds in human skin.