Exploring Pain Intensity Measurement of Low Back Pain in Late Adolescence with a Painometer v2 App

Abstract

Background: Fewer studies have examined the reliability and agreement of Android applications (Painometer). Further research has examined the validity of pain rating scales in painometer applications conducted on the pediatric population, but the condition was not specified. Research to find the generalizability of previous findings should be done in different age groups and conditions where pain is a vital symptom. Further with the era of modernisation and focus on paperless documentation it would be a boom making assessment just at the tap of a finger and retrieval easier in online platforms for follow-up.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate 1) the inter and intra-reliability of the NRS scale of the Painometer app vs. traditional NRS.

2) To check the agreement for measurement of the NRS Pain scale using an application (Painometer) in adolescent low back pain patients.

Materials & Methods: It is an observational study design. 31 patients falling into the age group (15-19) with nonspecific low back pain were recruited for the study. They were asked to rate their current pain - average, worst, and least pain intensity in the past week, 0–10 Numerical Rating Scale (NRS-11) both in Painometer and traditional Method. This research evaluated the reliability and validity by examining the agreement and correlation between the two versions of the NRS scale.

Results: The results showed the agreement and reliability of the NRS scale of the Painometer app with the traditional scale.

Conclusion: This study indicates that the NRS-11 of the Painometer application has strong agreement and intra –inter tester reliability in our sample which is with adolescent patients having nonspecific chronic pain. Research in additional samples in specific conditions is needed to evaluate the generalizability of the current findings.