Table 1.

Standardized tools for pain assessment

Measure (No of items)	Domains assessed
Multidimensional measures:
Brief pain inventory-short form (n=9)w1	Sensory (intensity, location); pain related interference or disability; treatments, degree of relief provided by treatments; affect
Geriatric pain measure (n=24)w2	Sensory (intensity, temporal pattern); pain related interference or disability; affect
Pain disability index (n=7)w3	Pain related interference or disability
Short-form McGill pain questionnaire (n=15)w4	Sensory; exacerbating or ameliorating factors; affect
PROMIS* pain interference, behavior, intensity itemsw5	Pain related interference or disability; pain behaviors; pain intensity
WOMAC (n=24)w6	Sensory (intensity); pain related interference or disability; joint stiffness
Roland Morris disability questionnaire† (n=24)w7	Pain related interference or disability; affect
Unidimensional measures:
Numeric rating scale (n=1)w8	Sensory (intensity)
Verbal rating scale (n=1)w9	Sensory (severity)
Visual analog scale (n=1)w9	Sensory (intensity)
Faces pain scale (n=1)w10	Sensory (intensity)
LANSS pain scale (n=7)w11	Sensory (assessment of possible neuropathic pain)
DN4 (n=4)w12	Sensory (assessment of possible neuropathic pain)

WOMAC=Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index; LANSS=Leeds assessment of neuropathic symptoms and signs; DN4=Douleur Neuropathique 4 questions.

*Available in long and short form versions: long version for pain interference has 40 items; there are five short form versions for pain interference where the number of questions varies from 4 to 8; long form version for pain behavior has 39 items, short form version has 7. PROMIS pain intensity measure has three items.

†Originally developed as tool to measure perceived disability in patients with back pain. Increasingly used to measure perceived disability due to pain from any cause.