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Updated: Mar 31, 2026
A Protocol of Manual Tests to Measure Sensation and Pain in Humans
Published on: December 19, 2016
[Pain intensity among institutionalized elderly: a comparison between numerical scales and verbal descriptors]
Lílian Varanda Pereira1, Gilberto de Araújo Pereira2, Louise Amália de Moura3
1Faculdade de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
Objective:
Correlating two unidimensional scales for measurement of self-reported pain intensity for elderly and identifying a preference for one of the scales.
Method:
A study conducted with 101 elderly people living in Nursing Home who reported any pain and reached ( 13 the scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination. A Numeric Rating Scale - (NRS) of 11 points and a Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS) of five points were compared in three evaluations: overall, at rest and during movement.
Results:
Women were more representative (61.4%) and the average age was 77.0±9.1 years. NRS was completed by 94.8% of the elderly while VDS by 100%. The association between the mean scores of NRS with the categories of VDS was significant, indicating convergent validity and a similar metric between the scales.
Conclusion:
Pain measurements among institutionalized elderly can be made by NRS and VDS; however, the preferred scale for the elderly was the VDS, regardless of gender.
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