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 .
Relationship between intensity and relief in patients with acute severe pain.
OBJECTIVE To test whether a single-category improvement on a Likert pain relief scale equals the minimum clinical ly significant difference of 1.3 units in pain intensity reduction on a 10-unit numerical rating scale ( NRS ) . METHODS Prospect i ve cohort of adults with acute severe pain receiving st and ardized analgesia .  Patients rated pain intensity via NRS before receiving morphine and 30 minutes later . Patients described pain relief as " none , " " a little , " " moderate , " " a lot , " or " complete . " The primary outcome was the difference in NRS scores between each contiguous pair of pain relief categories over 30 minutes . RESULTS One hundred thirty-one patients , age range 21 to 65 years , median baseline NRS pain score 10 ( interquartile range , 9 - 10 ) . Patients whose relief was " complete , " " a lot , " " moderate , " " mild , " and " none " had the following NRS unit reductions in pain , respectively : 9 , 5.7 , 3.9 , 2.1 , and -0.1 . The difference between each pair of relief categories was 3.3 , 1.8 , 1.8 , and 2.2 units . CONCLUSION Each single-category improvement on a pain relief scale exceeds the minimum clinical ly significant difference in pain intensity as measured on an NRS
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 .