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, Melissa Coetsee and 127.0.0.1  

Purpose

The NRS for pain is a unidimensional measure of pain intensity in adults, including those with chronic pain due to rheumatic diseases.

Content

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

Although various iterations exist, the most commonly used is the 11-item NRS.

Response Options/Scale

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

Varies, but most commonly respondents are asked to report pain intensity “in the last 24 hours” or average pain intensity.

Obtaining the Scale

Available from the web site: http://www.partnersagainstpain.com/printouts/A7012AS2.pdf.

Administration

The NRS can be adminis-tered verbally (therefore also by telephone) or graphically for self-completion. The respondent is asked to indicate
the numeric value on the segmented scale that best describes their pain intensity.

Scoring and Interpretation

The number that the respondent indicates on the scale to rate their pain intensity is recorded. Scores range from 0–10. Higher scores indicate greater pain intensity.

Merits and Demerits

• The pain NRS takes�1 minute to complete.
• The pain NRS is easy to administer and score.
• Minimal language translation difficulties supports the use of the NRS across cultures and languages