Visual analog pain scores do not define desire for analgesia in patients with acute pain.
Increased attention to improving the provision of analgesia has led to calls for increased use of pain measurement systems, including visual analog scales, which have not been validated for use in clinical care.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the ability of the visual analog scale to differentiate between patients with acute, painful conditions requiring pain medication, and those not requiring analgesia.


METHODS
This was a prospective, observational study of a convenience sample of patients with acute pain. Subjects were asked about their desire for medication. Visual analog scale pain scores were determined.


RESULTS
One hundred four patients participated. Patients requesting pain medication had a mean visual analog scale score of 66. The mean score for those not requesting medication was 45. The difference between the means was 21 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) for difference between the means was 10.7]. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the visual analog scale was 0.72 (95% CI = 0.61 to 0.82).


CONCLUSIONS
The visual analog scale cannot adequately discriminate between those patients who do and do not desire analgesia.
Blumstein
Howard A
HA
Department of Emergency Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1089, USA. mblumste@wfubmc.edu
Moore
Dave
D
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve
D000700:Analgesics