A systematic review of acute pain scoring instruments and their measurement properties in cats and dogs.

BACKGROUND

Assessment of acute pain can involve the use of pain scoring instruments.

HYPOTHESIS/

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the measurement properties of instruments scoring acute pain in cats and dogs according to the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) for Outcome Measurement Instruments (OMIs).

ANIMALS: This study did not include live animals.

METHODS

Five bibliographic databases were searched without restrictions on date. Inclusion criteria were original studies reporting the development or validation of instruments assessing acute pain for cats and dogs and their measurement properties. Exclusion criteria comprised studies reporting chronic pain, no or non-ordinal scoring systems, and studies/instruments not in English. Two investigators reviewed study titles, abstracts, and full texts. The COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist was used to evaluate the following measurement properties: content validity, internal consistency, reliability, measurement error, criterion validity, construct validity, and responsiveness.

RESULTS

A total of 25 studies met the inclusion criteria, with 15 instruments assessing acute pain in cats and dogs. The UNESP-Botucatu multidimensional pain scale, its short form, and the Feline Grimace Scale demonstrated the highest quality of evidence and findings, with appropriate criterion and construct validity, reliability, and responsiveness. In general, instruments for dogs lacked development studies, thorough reporting and showed weaker evidence and lower quality of measurement properties than the ones in cats.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The quality of evidence and gaps of knowledge across various instruments evaluating acute pain were identified. The measurement properties of instruments in cats are currently superior to those in dogs.