Based on available evidence , the NRS-11 , FPS-R , and CAS were strongly recommended for self-report of acute pain .
Only weak recommendations could be made for self-report measures for postoperative and chronic pain .
No measures were recommended for children younger than 6 years , identifying a need for further measurement refinement in this age range .
Abstract In 2006 , PAIN published a systematic review of the measurement properties of self-report pain intensity measures  in children and adolescents ( Stinson JN , Kavanagh T , Yamada J , Gill N , Stevens B. Systematic review of the psychometric properties , interpretability and feasibility of self-report pain intensity measures for use in clinical trials in children and adolescents .
Key developments in pediatric pain necessitate an up date of this work , most notably growing use of the 11-point numeric rating scale ( NRS-11 ) .
Our aim was to review the measurement properties of single-item self-report pain intensity measures in children 3 to 18 years old .
A secondary aim was to develop evidence -based recommendations for measurement of child and adolescent self-report of acute , postoperative , and chronic pain .
Developmental data supporting simplification of self-report pain scales for preschool-age children.
UNLABELLED Cl aims regarding the ability of preschool-age children to provide accurate self-reports using st and ard pain scales are not well supported by age-specific evidence . Responses of children younger than 5 years are often idiosyncratic and subject to biases . Simplifying the task of self-report of pain would make it more developmentally appropriate for 3- to 5-year-olds . A binary question is asked : " Does it hurt ? " or an equivalent . If yes , a simplified scale is presented , comprising 3 categories representing low , medium , and high pain severity . Children aged 3 to 5 years ( N = 184 ) were recruited from preschools and day care centers . Following parental consent and child assent , children were r and omly assigned to use either the  Faces Pain Scale-Revised or a 3-face scale preceded by a yes-no question to rate pain in 9 picture stories from the Charleston Pediatric Pain Pictures portraying no pain , moderate pain , and severe pain . The  simplified pain rating task  made no difference for 5-year-olds , whose mean scores were nearly identical using the 2 approaches . However , discrimination of the 3 levels of Charleston Pediatric Pain Pictures items was significantly better in 3- and 4-year-olds with the simplified task than with the  Faces Pain Scale-Revised .  Simplifying the task improved preschool-age children 's ability to estimate pain intensity . PERSPECTIVE St and ard self-report pain scales with 6 faces are confusing for many 3- and 4-year-olds . In basic preparatory research for future development of a preschool self-report pain scale , we simplified the task . This simplification made no difference for 5-year-olds but improved the performance of 3- and 4-year-olds
Based on available evidence , the NRS-11 , FPS-R , and CAS were strongly recommended for self-report of acute pain .
Only weak recommendations could be made for self-report measures for postoperative and chronic pain .
No measures were recommended for children younger than 6 years , identifying a need for further measurement refinement in this age range .
Abstract In 2006 , PAIN published a systematic review of the measurement properties of self-report pain intensity measures  in children and adolescents ( Stinson JN , Kavanagh T , Yamada J , Gill N , Stevens B. Systematic review of the psychometric properties , interpretability and feasibility of self-report pain intensity measures for use in clinical trials in children and adolescents .
Key developments in pediatric pain necessitate an up date of this work , most notably growing use of the 11-point numeric rating scale ( NRS-11 ) .
Our aim was to review the measurement properties of single-item self-report pain intensity measures in children 3 to 18 years old .
A secondary aim was to develop evidence -based recommendations for measurement of child and adolescent self-report of acute , postoperative , and chronic pain .