Published in:
01-09-2020 | Tonsillectomy | Miscellaneous
The validity of simplified self-report pain intensity assessment tools in preschool-age children undergoing adenotonsillectomy
Published in: European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology | Issue 9/2020
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Purpose
To assess the validity of simplified pain scales, including the Simplified Faces Pain Scale (S-FPS) and Simplified Concrete Ordinal Scale (S-COS) in preschool-age children who underwent adenotonsillectomy (T&A) by comparing the values of simplified pain scales with the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R) and the Faces, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) observational pain scale.
Methods
The present study consisted of 100 pediatric patients between the ages of 3 and 6 years old who had T&A. A two-step pain assessment approach with S-FPS and S-COS and FPS-R and FLACC pain scales was performed with children with the help of their parents or caregivers at the 1st, 6th and 12th hours, and over the 7 days after surgery.
Results
The mean scores of S-FPS and S-COS were higher than the mean FPS-R scores for each time point for all age groups. The total number of children reporting no pain was higher for FPS-R than S-FPS and S-COS for each age group and the difference was significant for 3-, 4- and 5- year olds. S-FPS, S-COS and FPS-R showed a moderate correlation with FLACC in all age groups, whereas the correlation values were not significantly different between the tests.
Conclusion
In the present study, we found that S-FPS and S-COS were valid options for estimating pain in preschool children including 3- and 4-year-olds who underwent T&A.