What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate the comparability of pain severity scores obtained from a Verbal Rating Scale versus a Numeric Rating Scale in individuals with spinal cord injuries.

January 1, 2010Journal of Spinal Cord MedicineOpen Access

Comparing Quantification of Pain Severity by Verbal Rating and Numeric Rating Scales

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Authors

MDMarcel DijkersWayne State University

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Implication

Observational study reveals poor correlation between verbal and numeric pain scales in spinal cord injury, indicating that clinical pain assessments require extreme caution.

Key Points

To evaluate the comparability of pain severity scores obtained from a Verbal Rating Scale versus a Numeric Rating Scale in individuals with spinal cord injuries.
Longitudinal observational study analyzing 168 individuals with new traumatic spinal cord injury admitted for inpatient rehabilitation.
Participants repeatedly completed paired assessments using a Verbal Rating Scale (VRS) and a Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for multiple pain types.
Across 1,114 total pain ratings, VRS and NRS scores demonstrated weak correlation (Spearman rho = 0.38).
For 36 individuals with at least 10 paired ratings, individual correlation coefficients varied widely from rho = -0.55 to 0.76.
Eliminating between-patient variation reduced the variance in NRS ratings for each VRS adjective by approximately 25%, highlighting large interpersonal differences in descriptor interpretation.

Cite This Study

Marcel Dijkers (2010) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a1065df4fb650da4fff67c6 https://doi.org/10.1080/10790268.2010.11689700

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Implication

Observational study reveals poor correlation between verbal and numeric pain scales in spinal cord injury, indicating that clinical pain assessments require extreme caution.

Comparing Quantification of Pain Severity by Verbal Rating and Numeric Rating Scales

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Comparing Quantification of Pain Severity by Verbal Rating and Numeric Rating Scales

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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