title: [Pain intensity among institutionalized elderly: a comparison between numerical scales and verbal descriptors].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Correlating two unidimensional scales for measurement of self-reported pain intensity for elderly and identifying a preference for one of the scales.
  
  
  METHODS
  A study conducted with 101 elderly people living in Nursing Home who reported any pain and reached ( 13 the scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination. A Numeric Rating Scale - (NRS) of 11 points and a Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS) of five points were compared in three evaluations: overall, at rest and during movement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women were more representative (61.4%) and the average age was 77.0±9.1 years. NRS was completed by 94.8% of the elderly while VDS by 100%. The association between the mean scores of NRS with the categories of VDS was significant, indicating convergent validity and a similar metric between the scales.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pain measurements among institutionalized elderly can be made by NRS and VDS; however, the preferred scale for the elderly was the VDS, regardless of gender.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lílian Varanda
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gilberto de Araújo
authors.initials: Gde A
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
authors.forename: Louise Amália de
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Moura
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rayanne Rodrigues
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Fernandes
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*