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Updated: Dec 29, 2025
Electrophysiological Measurements and Analysis of Nociception in Human Infants
Published on: December 20, 2011
Children still experience pain during hospital stay: a cross-sectional study from four countries in Europe
V Vejzovic1, J Bozic2, G Panova3
1Faculty of Health and Society, Department of Care Science, Malmö University, SE-205 06, Malmö, Sweden.
Insights
Most children in hospitals report experiencing pain, yet nearly all are satisfied with their pain management. This study highlights the importance of children
Area of Science:
- Pediatric healthcare
- Pain management in children
- Patient-reported outcomes
Background:
- Limited understanding of children's self-reported pain experiences during hospitalization.
- Previous studies on pediatric pain often involve small sample sizes, limiting generalizability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe children's self-reported pain experiences during hospital stays.
- To evaluate children's perspectives on pain management in a hospital setting.
Main Methods:
- Quantitative, cross-sectional study design.
- Descriptive statistics used for data analysis.
- 786 'Pain in Children in Hospital' questionnaires distributed across four countries (75% response rate).
Main Results:
- 87% of hospitalized children self-reported pain in the past 24 hours.
- 63% reported a pain score greater than 5 (on a relevant scale) in the last 24 hours.
- Most children reported that hospital staff inquired about and assessed their pain.
- 95% of children reported satisfaction with their pain relief.
Conclusions:
- A significant majority of children experience pain during hospitalization when given the opportunity to self-report.
- Despite experiencing pain, most children express satisfaction with the pain management provided.
Background:
Little is known whether children experience pain during hospital stay from the child's own perspective or not. The existing studies tend to be based on a small number of children and therefore have limitations concerning the generalisability of the results.
Aim:
The aim of this study was to describe children's self-reported pain and experience concerning pain management during hospital stay.
Methods:
This study has a quantitative cross-sectional design with descriptive statistics as data analysis.
Results:
A total of 786 questionnaires, Pain in Children in Hospital, were distributed in four countries with the response rate of 75% which was almost equal between countries. Our result showed that 87% (503/579) children at hospital self-reported pain during the past 24 h. Nearly 63% of the children reported a pain score of > 5 the last 24 h. Most of children reported that they had received a question about pain from the hospital staff, and that the staff observed and assessed their pain. Totally 95% reported that they were satisfied with their pain relief during the last 24 h.
Conclusion:
Our study showed that when children were given the possibility to self-report pain, nearly 2/3 expressed that they had experienced pain during hospital stay. However, most of them reported satisfaction with pain management and their pain relief.
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