Articles: pain-measurement.
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The Descriptor Differential Scale (DDS) applies psychophysical principles to clinical pain assessment. It contains 12 descriptor items for each pain dimension assessed. For each item, subjects indicate if their pain either is equal in magnitude to that implied by the anchoring descriptor, or how much greater or lesser on a 10-point graphic scale. ⋯ Ninety-one patients completed the sensory intensity and unpleasantness forms of the DDS at both 1 and 2 h after surgical extraction of a lower third molar. Results show that the DDS satisfies standard psychometric criteria for reliability, objectivity and item homogeneity. The coefficients found satisfy standard psychometric criteria and improve after elimination of inconsistent profiles.
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The purpose of this study was to identify the accuracy rates(hit ratio) which mean the degree of concordance between pain rating scale differences over time & subjective comparisons. Subjective comparisons mean the responses to the question "how does the pain you are now experiencing compare with the one at the time of the assessment yesterday?". Answers to this question were translated into 'greater', 'same', or 'less'. ⋯ VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) was reported as valid & reliable measure for the intensity of pain by many researchers. Thirty hospitalized patients with complaints of headache participated in this study during the period from May 1 to July 31, 1987. In conclusion, the accuracy rates of KPRS and VAS were 60%, 67%, respectively.
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Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol · Dec 1988
Unreliability of the Cold Pressor Test Method in pain studies.
The Cold Pressor Test Method is one of the most widely used techniques in laboratory pain studies. Many research projects use it to evaluate analgesic therapies, including pharmacological methods. However, a review of these projects shows that both the way in which the test is applied and the results obtained from it differ widely. ⋯ We have analyzed the effect of test repetition on parameters normally used in this method. Our results show great variability, especially in some subjects, in the measurement of pain threshold, withdrawal threshold and subjective pain. Standardization of the technique, design of new evaluation methods and continual recording of the way in which subjects interact with laboratory conditions must be developed if we want to find valid results with the Cold Pressor Test method in pain studies.
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Psychophysical experiments were carried out on 7 human participants to determine the extent to which experimentally produced first or second pain is reduced by concomitant nociceptive stimulation of body regions remote from those at which test stimuli are presented. This form of pain reduction has been termed diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (DNIC). Test stimuli used to evoke first and second pain consisted of intense electrical pulses delivered to the ankle area by subepithelial electrodes. ⋯ All of these results closely parallel electrophysiological observations about DNIC in primates. Since the extent of reduction of first pain is relatively weak and the durations of all inhibitory effects are very brief, it is unlikely that DNIC subserves the functions of relieving pain or providing a mechanism of coding pain. The spatial and temporal pattern of DNIC indicates that it may be a phenomenon associated more with the organization and production of withdrawal reflexes than with the relief of pain or pain coding.