Numeric Pain Rating Scale
Original Editor - Venus Pagare
Top Contributors - Venus Pagare, Tomer Yona, Kim Jackson, Evan Thomas, Vanessa Rhule, Claire Knott, Lauren Lopez, Lucinda hampton, WikiSysop, Wanda van Niekerk, Melissa Coetsee and 127.0.0.1
Introduction[edit | edit source]
Purpose[edit | edit source]
The NRS for pain is a unidimensional measure of pain intensity in adults, including those with chronic pain due to rheumatic diseases. Although various iterations exist, the most commonly used is the 11-item NRS.
Content[edit | edit source]
The NRS is a segmented numeric version of the visual analog scale (VAS) in which a respondent selects a whole number (0–10 integers) that best reflects the intensity of their pain. The common format is a horizontal bar or line. Similar to the pain VAS, the NRS is anchored by terms describing pain severity extremes.
Number of Items[edit | edit source]
The pain NRS is a single 11-point numeric scale
Response Options/Scale[edit | edit source]
An 11-point numeric scale (NRS 11) with 0 representing one pain extreme (e.g., “no pain”) and 10 representing the other pain extreme (e.g., “pain as bad as you can imagine” and “worst pain imaginable”).
Recall period for items[edit | edit source]
Varies, but most commonly respondents are asked to report pain intensity “in the last 24 hours” or average pain intensity.