Comparison of a Mobile Health Electronic Visual Analog Scale App With a Traditional Paper Visual Analog Scale for Pain Evaluation: Cross-Sectional Observational Study

Abstract

Background Accurate quantification of pain in a clinical setting is vital. The use of an electronic pain scale enables data to be collected, analyzed, and utilized much faster compared with traditional paper-based scales. The advancement of smart technology in pediatric and adult pain evaluation may offer opportunities to introduce easy-to-use and reliable pain assessment methods within different clinical settings. If promptly introduced within different pediatric and adult pain clinic services, validated and easily accessible mobile health pain apps may lead to early pain detection, promoting improvement in patient’s quality of life and leading to potentially less time off from school or work. Objective This cross-sectional observational study aimed to investigate the interchangeability of an electronic visual analog scale (eVAS) app with a traditional paper visual analog scale (pVAS) among Australian children, adolescents, and adults for pain evaluation. Methods Healthy participants (age range 10-75 years) were recruited from a sporting club and a secondary school in Melbourne (Australia). The data collection process involved application of pressure (8.5 kg/cm2) from a Wagner Force Dial FDK 20 to the midpoint of the thumb. The pressure was applied twice with a 5-minute interval. At each pressure application, participants were asked to randomly record their pain perception using the “eVAS” accessible via the “Interactive Clinics” app and the traditional pVAS. Statistical analysis was conducted to determine intermethod and intramethod reliabilities. Results Overall, 109 healthy participants were recruited. Adults (mean age 42.43 years, SD 14.50 years) had excellent reliability, with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.94 (95% CI 0.91-0.96). Children and adolescents (mean age 13.91 years, SD 2.89 years) had moderate-to-good intermethod and intramethod reliabilities, with an ICC of 0.80 (95% CI 0.70-0.87) and average ICC of 0.80 (95% CI 0.69-0.87), respectively. Conclusions The eVAS app appears to be interchangeable compared with the traditional pVAS among children, adolescents, and adults. This pain evaluation method may offer new opportunities to introduce user-friendly and validated pain assessment apps for patients, clinicians, and allied health professionals.

Validation of an Electronic Visual Analog Scale App for Pain Evaluation in Children and Adolescents With Symptomatic Hypermobility: Cross-sectional Study

“…Furthermore, support for efficient, valid, and reliable approaches in timely assessment of pain severity is critical for evaluating the effectiveness of pain therapies and implementation of early interventions in the pediatric population. Despite emerging evidence on psychometric validation of the digital VAS versions in pediatrics [3,[10][11][12][13], the feasibility of the application of the e-VAS in children with symptomatic hypermobility conditions has not been reported. Generalized joint hypermobility (GJH) is a connective tissue condition characterized by an excessive range of motions that affects multiple joints [14].…”

Emerging Tools to Capture Self-Reported Acute and Chronic Pain Outcome in Children and Adolescents: A Literature Review

“…Overall, 992 titles and abstracts were screened, and 960 were excluded due to lack of relevance. A total of 19 articles met the criteria for inclusion in this study [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. The main reason for rejecting papers was the age range inclusive of children (0–18), without being exclusive to this age range.…”

Effect of ketorolac tromethamine combined with dezocine prior administration on hemodynamics and postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing laparoscopic hernia repair

“…[ 26 ] The dynamic changes of intraoperative blood pressure and heart rate can directly reflect the changes in the hemodynamics of patients, especially at a specific time point of operation. VAS score [ 27 ] and Ramsay sedation score [ 28 ] are widely used to evaluate perioperative analgesia and sedation levels of patients. Therefore, in this study, preoperative intravenous administration of ketorolac tromethamine and dezocine was selected to reduce surgical stress and reduce the occurrence of hyperalgesia after remifentanil, improve the quality of patients’ recovery and reduce the occurrence of agitation and hemodynamic disorders during patients’ recovery, and the above observation indicators were selected.…”