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 .
A new analogue scale for assessing children's pain: an initial validation study
& NA ; A new instrument was design ed to provide a practical clinical measure for assessing children 's pain intensity and pain affect .  The pocket size measure includes a Coloured Analogue Scale ( CAS ) to assess intensity and a facial affective scale to assess the aversive component of pain . Both scales have numerical ratings on the back , so that the person administering it can quickly note the numbers that represent a child 's pain . This study was conducted to determine : the validity of the new instrument by evaluating the psychophysical properties of the intensity scale and by evaluating the discriminant validity of the intensity and affective scales . Since visual analogue scales ( VAS ) are valid and reliable measures for assessing children 's pain , children 's ability to use the new analog scale was compared with their performance on a VAS . Children 's ability to rate pain affect using an affective scale , in which the 9 faces on a Facial Affective Scale ( FAS ) are presented in an ordered sequence from least to most distressed , was compared to their performance on the original FAS , in which the same faces were presented in a r and om order . Using a parallel groups design , 104 children ( 5–16 years ; 60 female , 44 male ; 51 healthy and 53 with recurrent headaches ) were r and omized into two groups : CAS or VAS . Children used the assigned scale to complete a calibration task , in which they rated the sizes of 7 circles varying in area ( 491 , 804 , 1385 , 2923 , 3848 , 5675 and 7854 mm2 ) . The psychophysical function relating perceived circle size to actual physical size was determined for the CAS and VAS . Children 's  CAS and VAS  responses on the calibration task yielded similar mathematical relationships ; & PHgr;cas = 0.035I0.87 , & PHgr;vas = 0.027I0.89 , where & PHgr ; = perceived magnitude and I = stimulus intensity . The R2 values were 0.921 and 0.922 for the CAS and VAS groups , respectively . Analyses of covariance revealed no significant differences in the characteristics of these relationships , i.e. , R2 , slope , or y intercept , by scale type . Children used the same scale to complete the Children 's Pain Inventory ( CPI ) , in which they rated the intensity and affect of 16 painful events ( varying in nature and extent of tissue damage ) . Children 's  CAS and VAS  responses on the CPI were similar . Analyses of covariance indicated that there were no differences in either intensity or affective ratings by scale type . However , the mean number of painful events experienced by children increased significantly with age ( P = 0.0001 ) . Intensity ratings decreased significantly with age ( P = 0.002 ) , but affective ratings did not vary with age . The new instrument has equivalent psychometric properties to a 165 mm VAS . However , the CAS was rated as easier to administer and score than the VAS , so it may be more practical for routine clinical use . Since the CAS has fulfilled the first two criteria for a pain measure ( psychophysical properties and discriminant validity ) , it is ethical to proceed with the formal definitive test for construct validity , in which children from various clinical population s use the CAS scale to assess their own pain
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 .