Pain assessment using the adolescent pediatric pain tool: a systematic review

The Predictive Power of Pain Characteristics and Sleep Quality on Fatigue in Adolescents With Cancer

This study was conducted as descriptive, methodological, and cross-sectional research to determine the predictive power of pain characteristics and sleep quality on fatigue in adolescents with cancer. The study was conducted between November 2020 and April 2021 with 139 adolescents with cancer who reported pain. The study data were collected via an AdolescentInformation Form, the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool, the Scale For The Assessment Of Fatigue in Pediatric Oncology Patients Aged 13-18, and the Sleep Assessment Scale for Children with Cancer-Adolescent Form. Mean values, percentage calculations, Pearson correlation analysis, and linear regression analysis were used in the analysis of the data. There was a high level and negative correlation between pain characteristics (pain location, severity, and quality) of the adolescents participating in the study and their mean scores from the overall fatigue scale and its subdimensions and a high level and positive correlation with their mean scores from the overall sleep quality scale. Pain characteristics and sleep quality of adolescents with cancer explained 74% of fatigue. Pain, sleep quality, and fatigue are symptoms that should be closely addressed in adolescents with cancer.

Pain Quality After Pediatric Pectus Excavatum Repair

BACKGROUND

Neuropathic pain medications are included in multimodal postoperative analgesic strategies, but quality of perioperative pain is rarely assessed.

AIMS

The purpose of this study was to describe adolescents' pain experiences after thoracoscopic pectus excavatum repair (Nuss procedure) using the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool.

DESIGN

This prospective descriptive longitudinal study was designed to test the hypothesis that pain quality descriptors reported are consistent with neuropathic pain.

METHODS

A convenience sample of 23 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years from a single urban, university affiliated, nonprofit children's hospital consented to self-report pain using the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool before and during hospitalization, and up to 14 months after Nuss procedure. Visual analytic techniques were used to analyze reported pain intensity, location, and affective, evaluative, sensory, and temporal qualities.

RESULTS

Postoperative pain quality, intensity, number of sites, and surface area decreased over time. Word clouds illustrated that neuropathic sensory and temporal pain quality descriptors increased in frequency 2 to 6 weeks after surgery and were the predominant descriptors 2 to 4 months after surgery. Dot matrix charts illustrated an inconsistent relationship of pain quality and intensity with pain surface area.

CONCLUSIONS

Pain quality should be assessed with valid, reliable, and developmentally appropriate tools. Visual analytics help illustrate pain quality at single points in time and longitudinally and may be helpful in guiding postoperative pain treatment.

Identifying Chronic Pain Subgroups in Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease: A Cluster-Analytic Approach

OBJECTIVES

Youth with sickle cell disease (SCD) and chronic pain, defined in this study as pain on most days for 3 months, experience variability in daily pain and physical and psychosocial functioning. This study aimed to (1) empirically derive chronic pain subgroups based on pain characteristics among youth with chronic SCD pain; and (2) investigate derived subgroups for differences in sociodemographics, clinical characteristics, and psychosocial and functional outcomes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Youth with chronic SCD pain (n=62, Mage =13.9, SD=2.5, 10 to 18 y; 58% female, 60% HbSS) completed a battery of questionnaires. Clinical characteristics (eg, medications, treatments) and health care utilization were abstracted from electronic medical records. Hierarchical cluster analysis informed the number of clusters at the patient level. k-means cluster analysis used multidimensional pain assessment to identify and assign patients to clusters.

RESULTS

Cluster 1 (n=35; Moderate Frequency, Moderate Pain) demonstrated significantly lower worst pain intensity, number of pain days per month, number of body sites affected by pain, and pain quality ratings. Cluster 2 (n=27; Almost Daily, High Pain) reported high ratings of worst pain intensity, almost daily to daily pain, greater number of body sites affected by pain, and higher ratings of pain quality (all P 's <0.05). There were no differences between subgroups by sociodemographics, clinical characteristics, or health care utilization. The Almost Daily, High Pain subgroup reported significantly higher pain interference, depressive symptoms, and pain catastrophizing than the Moderate Frequency, Moderate Pain subgroup.

DISCUSSION

Identifying chronic SCD pain subgroups may inform tailored assessment and intervention to mitigate poor pain and functional outcomes.

Psychosocial and psychophysical assessment in pediatric patients and young adults with chronic back pain: a cluster analysis

Background

Identifying subgroups with different clinical profiles may inform tailored management and improve outcomes. The objective of this study was to identify psychosocial and psychophysical profiles of children and adolescents with chronic back pain.

Methods

One hundred and ninety‐eight patients with chronic back pain were recruited for the study. Pain assessment was mainly conducted in the form of an interview and with the use of validated pain‐related questionnaires assessing their psychosocial factors and disability. All patients underwent mechanical and thermal quantitative sensory tests assessing detection and pain thresholds, and conditioned pain modulation efficacy.

Results

Hierarchal clustering partitioned our patients into three clusters accounting for 34.73% of the total variation of the data. The adaptive cluster represented 45.5% of the patients and was characterized to display high thermal and pressure pain thresholds. The high somatic symptoms cluster, representing 19.2% of patients, was characterized to use more sensory, affective, evaluative and temporal descriptors of pain, more likely to report their pain as neuropathic of nature, report a more functional disability, report symptoms of anxiety and depression and report poor sleep quality. The pain‐sensitive cluster, representing 35.4% of the cohort, displayed deep tissue sensitivity and thermal hyperalgesia.

Conclusions

This study identified clinical profiles of children and adolescents experiencing chronic back pain based on specific psychophysical and psychosocial characteristics highlighting that chronic pain treatment should address underlying nociceptive and non‐nociceptive mechanisms.

Significance

To our current knowledge, this study is the first to conduct cluster analysis with youth experiencing chronic back pain and displays clinical profiles based on specific physical and psychosocial characteristics. This study highlights that in a clinical context, chronic pain assessment should include multiple elements contributing to pain which can be assessed in a clinical context and addressed when pathoanatomical symptoms are unidentifiable.

Pain in Children and Adolescents With Sickle Cell Disease: Multidimensional Assessment

BACKGROUND

Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) suffer from recurrent painful vaso-occlusive episodes with a significant impact on their quality of life. The aim of this study was to perform a multidimensional assessment of pain in Portuguese children and adolescents with SCD.

METHODS

Subjects were children and adolescents and their parents recruited from the outpatient pediatric hematology clinic in a Portuguese Hospital. Pain frequency and a broader multidimensional evaluation was performed using the Pediatric Pain Questionnaire (PedsQL) (that includes Visual Analog Scales, color indicators, qualitative descriptors of pain [open question] and body diagram) and a structured questionnaire (PQ2), that included a term list of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool, among other questions.

RESULTS

Included 60 children and adolescents (36 boys and 24 girls) with a mean age of 11±4.0 years (range, 5 to 18). The majority of children (83.1%) reported no present pain and 57.6% reported pain last month, with several degrees of pain intensity. Abdomen, thorax, and limbs were the most frequent localizations. Red was the color most chosen to describe "severe pain," whereas blue and green were more used to describe "no pain." The number of pain descriptors is different using an open-ended question (2.1±1.5) than a given list of terms (15.3±8.1). The most frequent terms used in the open question were "strong/very strong," "hurts a lot," "makes cry," and "horrible." Parents used similar pain descriptors. "Makes cry," "horrible," "tiring," "unbearable," and "uncomfortable" were the most frequent terms chosen in the PQ2. Pain interfered variably with daily activities for most of the patients.

CONCLUSION

Pain experienced in SCD has a broad range of intensity levels, localization, and frequency. There are a number of pain descriptors and socio-emotional factors related to the pain experience. A comprehensive multidimensional assessment that includes both child's and parents' perspective seem to be the most adequate strategy to assess pain.

Characteristics of neuropathic pain in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury

Objectives:

To present the characteristics of neuropathic pain in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI).

Methods:

We recruited all individuals with chronic SCI referred to the Brain and Spine Injury Research center with a diagnosis of neuropathic pain from April 2013 to September 2015 into this historical cohort study.

Results:

Forty individuals with chronic SCI-induced neuropathic pain entered this study with a mean age of 43.67±13.12 years and a majority of who were male (n=30, 75%). Motor vehicle collision (n=25, 62.5%) and fall (n=7, 17.5%) were the most common causes of SCI in our participants. There were 13 (32.5%) cervical, twenty (50%) thoracic, and 7 (17.5%) lumbosacral SCI. The mean ‘maximal pain intensity’, ‘overall pain intensity during the past week’, and ‘the pain intensity at the initial consultation in pain clinic’ measured by numerical rating scale (NRS) in this cohort were 8.71±1.73, 6.32±1.60, and 6.11±2.48, respectively. Burning pain was the most frequently used description of pain reported by our participants. Pain intensity significantly decreased after six months of treatment for all three above categories.

Conclusion:

This study provides characteristics of neuropathic pain in a group of individuals with chronic SCI. Further large prospective studies are needed to determine the association between lesion level, completeness of injury, and region of pain.

Management of Sickle Cell Disease Pain among Adolescent and Pediatric Patients

Management of sickle cell pain in adolescent and pediatric patients is inadequate, and the employment of proper management guidelines and practices are highly variable among different regions and populations. APPT, the multidimensional adolescent pediatric pain tool, promotes optimal pain management and introduces best practical guidelines for pain management. The goal of this study is to assess pain and pain management among young patients diagnosed with sickle cell disease (SCD) by introducing the APPT as a tool for pain management, and analyze factors contributing to pain management. Information relevant to demographic data, SCD characteristics, APPT assessment, and satisfaction of patients regarding pain management were collected using a structured questionnaire. Results showed that SCD is highly associated with gender (p = 0.022), consanguinity (p = 0.012), and number of surgeries (p = 0.013). Most patients (58.9%) indicated the involvement of more than six body areas affected during pain crisis. Severe pain was described by more than half the patients (55.6%), while moderate pain was reported by 31.1%. Most patients described their pain by sensory, affective, and temporal words. The number of painful areas, pain intensity, and use of descriptive pain words was correlated and interpreted by age, BMI, school absence, and number of surgeries. Results of this study could provide guidance to healthcare providers to improve current practices for SCD pain management in order to improve health outcomes and patients’ satisfaction.

Pain among children and adults living with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita: A scoping review

Clinical interventions and research have mostly focused on the orthopedic and genetic outcomes of individuals with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC), and although pain has gained recognition as an important issue experienced by individuals with AMC, it has received little attention within the AMC literature. The aims of this scoping review were to describe the pain experiences of children and adults with AMC, to identify pain assessment tools and management techniques, and document the impact of pain on participation in everyday activities among children and adults with AMC. A search of the literature was conducted in four search engines and identified a total of 89 articles. Once study eligibility was reviewed, 21 studies met the selection criteria and were included in this review. Pain appears to be more commonly experienced in adults with AMC compared with children with AMC, with individuals having undergone multiple corrective procedures self-reporting pain more often. In adult populations, musculoskeletal chronic pain is a significant problem, resulting in restrictions in activities of daily living, mobility, and participation. Researchers and clinicians must agree on the use of validated measures appropriate for evaluating pain in AMC and the use of appropriate pain management techniques to relieve pain. Pediatric studies should focus on determining how commonly pain is experienced in infants, children, and adolescents with AMC. Pain in adults with AMC should be acknowledged to offer proper client-centered interventions throughout the lifespan.

Validation of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool for the Multidimensional Measurement of Pain in Children and Adolescents Diagnosed with Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Background: The Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool (APPT) is a self-reported, multidimensional assessment of pain location, intensity, and quality in children and adolescents. Yet, it has not been validated for use in children and adolescents with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). Aims: This study aimed to validate and evaluate the feasibility of the APPT for pain assessment in children and adolescents with OI. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted at a university-affiliated pediatric hospital in Canada. Thirty-three children and adolescents with OI participated by completing the APPT pre-bisphosphonate intravenous infusion and 1 week post-bisphosphonate intravenous infusion. Main outcomes were internal consistency, convergent and discriminative validity, and feasibility. Results: The Kuder-Richardson test of internal consistency was 0.863, 0.661, and 0.729 for the Sensory, Affective, and Evaluative subscales, respectively. For the entire pain quality scale, the Cronbach's alpha was 0.835. Regarding convergent validity, a moderate correlation was observed between the ratings on the pain intensity scale and the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (Spearman's rho = 0.711). Patients for whom pain was a problem reported higher pain intensity (Mann Whitney U = 41.50, P = 0.032) and more pain quality descriptors (Mann Whitney U = 45.50, P = 0.020) and painful body areas (Mann-Whitney U = 25.50, P = 0.001) than those for whom it was not (Mann-Whitney U, P < 0.05). In terms of feasibility, completing the tool may require a considerable time commitment and assistance from a clinician or parent, especially if the patient is experiencing pain and provides detailed pain location and quality information by completing the APPT. Conclusions: This study suggests that the APPT is valid for the multidimensional assessment of pain in children and adolescents with OI, but feasibility needs to be enhanced.

The Society for Pediatric Anesthesia recommendations for the use of opioids in children during the perioperative period

Opioids have long held a prominent role in the management of perioperative pain in adults and children. Published reports concerning the appropriate, and inappropriate, use of these medications in pediatric patients have appeared in various publications over the last 50 years. For this document, the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia appointed a taskforce to evaluate the available literature and formulate recommendations with respect to the most salient aspects of perioperative opioid administration in children. The recommendations are graded based on the strength of the available evidence, with consensus of the experts applied for those issues where evidence is not available. The goal of the recommendations was to address the most important issues concerning opioid administration to children after surgery, including appropriate assessment of pain, monitoring of patients on opioid therapy, opioid dosing considerations, side effects of opioid treatment, strategies for opioid delivery, and assessment of analgesic efficacy. Regular updates are planned with a re-release of guidelines every 2 years.

The Experience of Pain and Pain Tool Preferences of Hospitalized Youth

BACKGROUND

An accurate holistic pediatric pain assessment is necessary for quality pain management. Evidence continues to be published indicating inadequacies in pediatric pain management. It is important for clinicians to consider the pain assessment process while caring for youth.

AIM

The purpose of this study was to understand the pain experience through focused interviews and to explore how youth use, interpret and understand self-report pain assessment tools including their tool preferences.

DESIGN

A qualitative descriptive study using a research developed semi-structured interview guide was conducted with 40 hospitalized youth, 10-17 years (M: 13yr; S.D. 2.4); 21 (52.5%) female on a medical inpatient unit. Interview questions focused on: current pain experience; pain related symptoms; evaluation of pain treatment and preferences for select pain assessment tools: 0-10 Numeric Rating Scale, The Oucher, Faces Pain Scale-Revised, and Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool (APPT).

SETTING

Large tertiary and quaternary care pediatric hospital located in northeastern United States.

PARTICIPANTS/SUBJECTS

Hospitalized youth, 10-17 years of age.

RESULTS

Analysis of transcribed interviews yielded 3 themes: My Pain Now, Pain Treatment Expectations, and Telling Healthcare Providers about My Pain. Additionally, pain tools preference, assessment frequency, and discussion of how behavior, activity level, and pain expression was different for each youth. APPT was the preferred pain assessment tool. Descriptive words such as sharp, throbbing, and aching were identified most often. Youth identified that activity and pain level often do not match.

CONCLUSIONS

Because pain is multi-dimensional, assessing each dimension (quality, location, intensity, and meaning) is key to thorough assessment. Results provide insight into youth preferences influencing clinical practice such as offering options for interventions and having a voice in the pain management process. All nurses caring for children should discuss available pain tools preferably before the child is in pain and assure the child knows how to use the tool.

CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION OF THE ADOLESCENT PEDIATRIC PAIN TOOL FOR BRAZILIAN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH CANCER

ABSTRACT Objective: to describe the steps in the cross-cultural adaptation process of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool, a pain assessment measure, for use with Brazilian children and adolescents with cancer. Method: a methodological and cross-sectional study was undertaken. The steps in the cross-cultural adaptation process of the tool that resulted in the semantic validation followed an adapted method, including: initial translation, consensus version of translations, evaluation by Expert Committee, back-translation, comparison with original tool and actual semantic validation. Results: the initial translation process of the tool until the final consensus was reached took approximately four months. In the evaluation by the Expert Committee, three health professionals participated in the study, who were knowledgeable on the theme and mastered the English language. In the semantic validation, 35 children and adolescents aged between eight and 18 unfinished years participated, who were patients at the institution where children and adolescents with cancer were treated and monitored. After concluding all steps, the researchers met to discuss the proposed changes. At the end of the cross-cultural adaptation process of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool, all initially proposed 67 pain descriptors were maintained in their Portuguese version. Conclusion: the steps in the cross-cultural adaptation process of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool were executed and described in detail, evidencing the rigorous development of the study.

Pain and quality of life of children and adolescents with osteogenesis imperfecta over a bisphosphonate treatment cycle

The objective was to describe the pain and quality of life among children and adolescents with any osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) type over one intravenous bisphosphonate treatment cycle from a child and parental perspective. A prospective, observational study was conducted, where children and adolescents evaluated their pain intensity, location, and quality, as well as quality of life before, 1 week after treatment, and 6 months later. Quality of life was also evaluated from the parental perspective at the same three time points. Thirty-three child/parent dyads participated. The results showed that pain intensity on the 0-10 self-report scale after the Zoledronate infusion (median = 0, range = 0-6) was not different from pre (median = 2, range = 0-10) and 6-months post-scores (median = 2, range = 0-8) (p = 0.170). Children and adolescents with OI reported experiencing pain mainly in the ankles and the anterior and posterior shoulders. They selected evaluative pain descriptors such as uncomfortable (n = 16, 48%) and annoying (n = 13, 39%). Children and adolescents' functioning and quality of life did not change significantly across the bisphosphonate treatment cycle (p = 0.326), parents perceived an improvement immediately after the treatment compared to before (p = 0.016).

CONCLUSION

Children and adolescents with OI experience mild, yet complex pain localized across several body areas. There is little fluctuation in the pain intensity and functioning of children with OI undergoing bisphosphonate treatment. What is Known: • Acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain remains a major issue in OI. • Pain has a negative impact on quality of life. What is New: • New and unpublished methods and findings describing the pain and quality of life of children and adolescents with OI over one intravenous bisphosphonate treatment cycle from a child- and parental-proxy perspective. • Children and adolescents with OI experience pain intensity that is mild, yet complex in quality and localized across several body areas.

Cultural adaptation of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool in Turkish children with cancer

PURPOSE

Pain is very common among pediatric cancers. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool (APPT).

METHODS

In this methodological study, language validity and content validity of the words in the third section of the scale, which was administered to children with cancer, were tested using the Q-sort method. The APPT was used to measure test-retest reliability once for each of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd weeks of the chemotherapy protocols for 30 children. A reliability test was conducted using the APPT for 96 children with cancer.

RESULTS

The number of words included in the third section of the APPT was reduced to 56 following the completion of the language and content validity using the Q-sort method. In the test-retest method, results from the three measures taken showed that the intra-class correlation coefficient was good. The internal consistency of the scale was also good (α = .78) in terms of the total number of body areas marked on body outline diagram, pain severity, pain intensity ratings, total number of word descriptors, and total number of sensory, affective, evaluative and temporal word descriptors. Correlations were found between the total number of body areas marked on the body outline diagram and the total number of word descriptors (r = .53), the pain severity and pain intensity ratings (r = .95), and the total number of word descriptors (r = .38).

CONCLUSIONS

The Turkish version of the APPT was determined to be valid, reliable and easy to use for pediatric cancer patients.

Cognitive Testing of an Electronic Version of the Faces Pain Scale-Revised with Pediatric and Adolescent Sickle Cell Patients

BACKGROUND

Patient diaries and pain scales can capture the course and complications of pain managed at home in children. The Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R) is a validated scale showing reliability in children, but it has not been validated in children with sickle cell disease (SCD).

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate comprehension and usability of an electronic modified version of the FPS-R among pediatric patients with SCD.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional, qualitative study involving in-person interviews with children/adolescents from the USA and their parents/legal guardians. Interviews involved cognitive debriefing and usability testing of the FPS-R.

RESULTS

In total, 22 children with SCD aged 4-17 years participated. Children aged 4-6 were generally unable to demonstrate clear understanding of the FPS-R and its response scale. Overall, children aged ≥7 years understood the instrument and could complete it on the electronic device, although children aged 7-8 often needed assistance from the parent. Children aged 9-17 years were able to read and complete the instrument independently. Most participants considered the electronic device easy to use.

CONCLUSIONS

The FPS-R was shown to be a comprehensible and usable pain measure for children aged 7-17 with SCD and to be beneficial for future clinical studies.

Measuring Musculoskeletal Pain in Infants, Children, and Adolescents

Synopsis Accurate, reliable, and timely assessment of pain is critical for effective management of musculoskeletal pain conditions. The assessment of pain in infants, children, and adolescents with and without cognitive impairment can be particularly challenging to clinicians for a number of reasons, including factors related to the consultation (eg, heterogeneous patient population, time constraints), the clinician (eg, awareness/knowledge of available pain scales), standardized assessment scales (eg, availability, psychometric properties, and application of each scale), the patient (eg, developmental stage, ability to communicate), and the context in which the interaction took place (eg, familiarity with the setting and physiological and psychological state). As a result, pain is frequently not assessed or measured during the consultation and, in many instances, underestimated and undertreated in this population. The purpose of this article is to provide clinicians with an overview of scales that may be used to measure pain in infants, children, and adolescents. Specifically, the paper reviews the various approaches to measure pain intensity; identifies factors that can influence the pain experience, expression, and assessment in infants, children, and adolescents; provides age-appropriate suggestions for measuring pain intensity in patients with and without cognitive impairment; and identifies ways to assess the impact of pain using multidimensional pain scales. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2017;47(10):712-730. doi:10.2519/jospt.2017.7469.

Assessment and management of pain in pediatric otolaryngology

INTRODUCTION

Pain is a disease by itself and it's a public health concern of major implication in children, not just because of the emotional component of the child and his family, but also due to the potential morbidity and mortality involving it. A proper assessment of pain it's a challenge in the pediatric population, due to their lack of understanding and verbalization of hurt. Additionally, a satisfactory treatment of pediatric pain can be arduous due to a lack of clinical knowledge, insufficient pediatric research, and the fear to opioid side effects and addiction.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this review is to address the current definitions of pain, its physiological mechanisms and the consequences of its inadequate management, as well as, to guide the clinicians in the assessment and management of pain in the pediatric population at otolaryngology services.

METHODOLOGY

Narrative review by selective MeSH search terms: Children, Pediatrics, Otolaryngology, Pain measurement, Pain Management, Analgesics and Analgesia, from databases: MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane, ISI, Current Contents, Scielo and LILACS, between January 2000 and May 2016.

RESULTS

129 articles were reviewed according to the requirements of the objectives. Pain measurement is a challenge in children as there are no physical signs that constitute an absolute or specific indicator of pain, and its diagnosis must rely on physiological, behavioral and self-report methods. Regarding treatment, a suitable alternative are the non-pharmacological cognitive/behavioral therapies helped by pharmacological therapies tailored to the severity of pain and the child's age. We provide evidence-based recommendations on pain treatment, including non-opioid analgesics, opioid analgesics and adjuvant medicines to improve the management of pain in children in otolaryngology services.

CONCLUSIONS

We present a global review about assessment and management of pain in pediatric otolaryngology, which leads to future specific reviews on each topic. Research gaps on pain assessment and pharmacological interventions in neonates, infants and children are very wide and it should be promoted ethical and safe research on pain control in this population.