CLINICAL UTILITY OF THE ADOLESCENT PEDIATRIC PAIN TOOL COMPARED TO THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE IN HOSPITALIZED CHILDREN: A PROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY.

Article type: Original Research Article

Background: Pain is a complex and subjective experience, particularly in pediatric populations, where communication limitations often hinder accurate assessment.

Methods: To address this challenge, we conducted an observational, descriptive, and prospective study aimed at evaluating the clinical utility of an adapted version of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool in comparison with the Visual Analog Scale, while also exploring pediatric pain from a multidimensional perspective.

Results: The study involved 27 children aged 8 to 14 years, with both scales administered prior to analgesic treatment. Findings revealed a strong and statistically significant correlation between the Visual Analog Scale and the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool’s ordinal scale (rho = 0.81; p < 0.001), confirming consistency in pain intensity measurement. Importantly, the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool provided additional insights by capturing temporal, sensory, and emotional descriptors of pain, with notable differences observed based on gender and social context particularly among vulnerable children, who tended to express pain in more intense and negative terms.

Conclusions: These results underscore the value of multidimensional tools in achieving a more comprehensive, personalized, and context-sensitive assessment of pediatric pain, and support their systematic integration into hospital clinical practice to enhance the quality of therapeutic approaches.