From analyses of individual patient data ( seven studies , 918 patients ) , we found baseline pain strongly associated with absolute , but not relative , MCID as patients with higher baseline pain needed larger pain reduction to perceive relief .
Conclusions The MCID in acute pain varied greatly between studies and was influenced by baseline pain , definitions of improved patients and study design .
Background The minimum clinical ly important difference ( MCID ) is used to interpret the clinical relevance of results reported by trials and meta-analyses as well as to plan sample sizes in new studies .
However , there is a lack of consensus about the size of MCID in acute pain , which is a core symptom affecting patients across many clinical conditions .
Determining the minimum clinically significant difference in visual analog pain score for children.
STUDY OBJECTIVE We sought to determine the minimum clinical ly significant difference in visual analog scale ( VAS ) pain score for children . METHODS We performed a prospect i ve , single-group , repeated- measures study of children between 8 and 15 years presenting to an urban pediatric emergency department with acute pain . On presentation to the ED , patients marked the level of their pain on a 100-mm nonhatched VAS scale . At 20-minute intervals thereafter , they were asked to give a verbal categoric rating of their pain as " heaps better , " " a bit better , " " much the same , " " a bit worse , " or " heaps worse " and to mark the level of pain  on a VAS scale of the same type as used previously . A maximum of 3 comparisons was recorded for each child . The minimum clinical ly significant difference in VAS pain score was defined as the mean difference between current and preceding scores when the subject reported " a bit worse " or " a bit better " pain . RESULTS Seventy-three children were enrolled in the study , yielding 103 evaluable comparisons in which pain was rated as " a bit better " or " a bit worse . " The minimum clinical ly significant difference in VAS score was 10 mm ( 95 % confidence interval 7 to 12 mm ) . CONCLUSION This study found the minimum clinical ly significant difference in VAS pain score for children aged 8 to 15 years ( on a 100-mm VAS scale ) to be 10 mm ( 95 % confidence interval 7 to 12 mm ) . In studies of population s , differences of less than this amount , even if statistically significant , are unlikely to be of clinical significance
From analyses of individual patient data ( seven studies , 918 patients ) , we found baseline pain strongly associated with absolute , but not relative , MCID as patients with higher baseline pain needed larger pain reduction to perceive relief .
Conclusions The MCID in acute pain varied greatly between studies and was influenced by baseline pain , definitions of improved patients and study design .
Background The minimum clinical ly important difference ( MCID ) is used to interpret the clinical relevance of results reported by trials and meta-analyses as well as to plan sample sizes in new studies .
However , there is a lack of consensus about the size of MCID in acute pain , which is a core symptom affecting patients across many clinical conditions .