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 .
Variability of “optimal” cut points for mild, moderate, and severe pain: Neglected problems when comparing groups
Summary The widely used “ optimal ” cut point procedure developed by Serlin et al. in 1995 results in highly variable cut points . This variability obviates any substantial interpretation of differences between groups . Abstract Defining cut points for mild , moderate , and severe pain intensity on the basis of differences in functional interference has an intuitive appeal . The statistical procedure to derive them proposed in 1995 by Serlin et al. has been widely used . Contrasting cut points between population s have been interpreted as meaningful differences between different chronic pain population s. We explore the variability associated with optimally defined cut points in a large sample of chronic pain patients and in homogeneous sub sample s. Ratings of maximal pain intensity ( 0–10 numeric rating scale , NRS ) and pain‐related disability were collected in a sample of 2249 children with chronic pain managed in a tertiary pain clinic . First , the “ optimal ” cut points for the whole sample were determined . Second , the variability of these cut points was quantified by the bootstrap technique . Third , this variability was also assessed in homogeneous sub sample s of 650 children with constant pain , 430 children with chronic daily headache , and 295 children with musculoskeletal pain . Our study revealed 3 main findings : ( 1 ) The optimal cut points for mild , moderate , and severe pain in the whole sample were 4 and 8 ( 0–10 NRS ) . ( 2 ) The variability of these cut points within the whole sample was very high , identifying the optimal cut points in only 40 % of the time . ( 3 ) Similarly large variability was also found in sub sample s of patients with a homogeneous pain etiology . Optimal cut points are strongly influenced by r and om fluctuations within a sample . Differences in optimal cut points between study groups may be explained by chance variation ; no other substantial explanation is required . Future studies that aim to interpret differences between groups need to include measures of variability for optimal cut points
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 .