title: Assessment of dyspnoea in the emergency department by numeric and visual scales: A pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dyspnoea is a common and often debilitating symptom that affects up to 50% of patients admitted to acute tertiary care hospitals. The primary purpose of this study was to compare the numeric rating scale (NRS) and the visual analogue scale (VAS) for dyspnoea evaluation in the ED setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cohort study of patients admitted to the ED in a university hospital, with dyspnoea as the chief complaint.
  
  
  METHODS
  The agreement of the two dyspnoea scales was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and seventeen patients were included in this analysis. The median age for the whole study population was 67 years and 42% of patients were male. The aetiology of dyspnoea was acute heart failure (AHF) in 35% of patients. There was good agreement between the two scores (ICC=0.795; 95% CI=0.717-0.853; P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This pilot study demonstrated that numerical rating and visual analogue scales agree well when assessing the severity of dyspnoea in the ED. Further studies with larger cohorts of patients are needed to confirm these preliminary results.
authors: INSERM, unit 942, biomarkers in cardioneurovascular diseases, AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, department of emergency medicine, 2, rue Ambroise-Paré, 75475 Paris cedex 10, France; Hospital Santa Maria, Serv Cardiologia I, Lisbon academic medical centre, CCUL, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors: Rui
authors: R
authors: Placido
authors: Master 2 AIV, centre for research and interdisciplinarity, Paris, France.
authors: Carine
authors: C
authors: Gigaud
authors: INSERM, unit 942, biomarkers in cardioneurovascular diseases, AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, department of emergency medicine, 2, rue Ambroise-Paré, 75475 Paris cedex 10, France; AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, department of anaesthesiology and critical care, 75010 Paris, France.
authors: Etienne
authors: E
authors: Gayat
authors: AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, department of anaesthesiology and critical care, 75010 Paris, France.
authors: Axelle
authors: A
authors: Ferry
authors: INSERM, unit 942, biomarkers in cardioneurovascular diseases, AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, department of emergency medicine, 2, rue Ambroise-Paré, 75475 Paris cedex 10, France; University Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75010 Paris, France; AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, department of cardiology, 75010 Paris, France.
authors: Alain
authors: A
authors: Cohen-Solal
authors: INSERM, unit 942, biomarkers in cardioneurovascular diseases, AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, department of emergency medicine, 2, rue Ambroise-Paré, 75475 Paris cedex 10, France; University Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75010 Paris, France; AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, emergency department, 75010 Paris, France.
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Plaisance
authors: INSERM, unit 942, biomarkers in cardioneurovascular diseases, AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, department of emergency medicine, 2, rue Ambroise-Paré, 75475 Paris cedex 10, France; AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, department of anaesthesiology and critical care, 75010 Paris, France; University Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75010 Paris, France.
authors: Alexandre
authors: A
authors: Mebazaa
authors: INSERM, unit 942, biomarkers in cardioneurovascular diseases, AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, department of emergency medicine, 2, rue Ambroise-Paré, 75475 Paris cedex 10, France; AP-HP, groupe hospitalier Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, emergency department, 75010 Paris, France. Electronic address: said.laribi@lrb.aphp.fr.
authors: Said
authors: S
authors: Laribi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D064232:Visual Analog Scale
keywords: Acute heart failure; Dyspnoea; Emergency department; Evaluation; VAS