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Reliability of four experimental mechanical pain tests in children
Ann-Britt L Soee1, Lise L Thomsen, Birte Tornoe
1Department of Pediatrics, Children's Headache Clinic, Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Insights
Pain measurement tools are reliable for children. This study found pressure pain thresholds (PPT) and other tests to be reliable for assessing pain in healthy children aged 8-14 years.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Pain Research
- Pain Measurement Validation
- Child Psychology
Background:
- Accurate pain assessment in children is crucial for effective treatment.
- Adult pain measurement tools require validation for pediatric use.
- Understanding pain perception in pediatric populations is an ongoing research area.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the intrasession reliability of pressure pain thresholds (PPT) in healthy children.
- To evaluate the intersession reliability of four pain measurement tests in children: Total Tenderness Score, PPT, Visual Analog Scale at suprapressure pain threshold, and area under the curve.
- To determine if established pain measurement tools are reliable for pediatric populations.
Main Methods:
- Twenty-five healthy children aged 8-14 years participated in the study.
- Intrasession reliability of PPT was assessed by repeating the test three times within the same session.
- Intersession reliability of four pain tests was evaluated by repeating them after a median of 21 days, using Cronbach's alpha and Pearson's correlation coefficient.
Main Results:
- The pressure pain threshold (PPT) test demonstrated high precision and reliability (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.92).
- All four tested methods showed good to excellent intersession reliability, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.66 to 0.81.
- No significant systematic differences were observed in the pain measurements between test days.
Conclusions:
- The study suggests that the tested pain measurement tools, including PPT, are reliable for evaluating pain in healthy children aged 8-14 years.
- These findings support the use of these instruments in pediatric pain research and clinical practice.
- Further research with larger sample sizes is recommended to confirm these reliability findings.
Purpose:
In order to study pain in children, it is necessary to determine whether pain measurement tools used in adults are reliable measurements in children. The aim of this study was to explore the intrasession reliability of pressure pain thresholds (PPT) in healthy children. Furthermore, the aim was also to study the intersession reliability of the following four tests: (1) Total Tenderness Score; (2) PPT; (3) Visual Analog Scale score at suprapressure pain threshold; and (4) area under the curve (stimulus-response functions for pressure versus pain).
Participants And Methods:
Twenty-five healthy school children, 8-14 years of age, participated. Test 2, PPT, was repeated three times at 2 minute intervals on the same day to estimate PPT intrasession reliability using Cronbach's alpha. Tests 1-4 were repeated after median 21 (interquartile range 10.5-22) days, and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to describe the intersession reliability.
Results:
The PPT test was precise and reliable (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.92). All tests showed a good to excellent correlation between days (intersessions r = 0.66-0.81). There were no indications of significant systematic differences found in any of the four tests between days.
Conclusion:
All tests seemed to be reliable measurements in pain evaluation in healthy children aged 8-14 years. Given the small sample size, this conclusion needs to be confirmed in future studies.
