Pain Charts (Body Maps or Manikins) In Assessment of the Location of Pediatric Pain

Abstract

This article surveys the use of pain charts or pain drawings in eliciting information about the location of pain symptoms from children and adolescents. While pain charts are widely used and have been incorporated in multidimensional pediatric pain questionnaires and diaries, they present a number of issues requiring further study. These include, in particular, the number and size of different locations or areas of pain that need to be differentiated; the age at which children are able to complete pain charts unassisted; and whether the intensity and other qualities of pain can be accurately recorded on pain charts by children and adolescents. Based on data currently available, it is suggested that the unassisted use of pain charts be restricted to children aged 8 years or over, while for clinical purposes many younger children can complete pain charts with adult support. Where the investigator‘s interest is restricted to a few areas of the body, checklists of body parts may have greater utility than pain charts. A new pain chart adapted for use in studies of pediatric recurrent and chronic pain is presented.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank G Walco, M Connelly and J Stinson for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This review was initiated following a consensus conference supported by the following grants: Stinson J, Connelly M, Chira P, McGrath PJ, Rapoff M, Schanberg L: Towards A Standardized Universal Pain Evaluation by Rheumatology Providers for Children (SUPER-KIDZ) with Arthritis and other Rheumatic Conditions (2009), a Mayday Fund grant, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research: Meetings, Planning and Dissemination Grant 90885. This review was also supported in part by Grant 1R01MH063779, awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health (Principal Investigator: MC Jacob). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This review was initiated following a consensus conference supported by the following grants: Stinson J, Connelly M, Chira P, McGrath PJ, Rapoff M, Schanberg L: Towards A Standardized Universal Pain Evaluation by Rheumatology Providers for Children (SUPER-KIDZ) with Arthritis and other Rheumatic Conditions (2009), a Mayday Fund grant, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research: Meetings, Planning and Dissemination Grant 90885. This review was also supported in part by Grant 1R01MH063779, awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health (Principal Investigator: MC Jacob). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.