Portuguese version of dog pain scale tested after surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Pain is a complex experience, associated with several medical and surgical conditions. We aimed to performed initial psychometric evaluation of the Portuguese version of the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale - Short Form (CMPS-SF). Sixty-eight dogs (27 males and 41 females) were recruited.The English version of the CMPS-SF was translated into Portuguese, and native Portuguese-speaking veterinarians completed a copy of the translated version.Pain scores from dogs that underwent soft tissue or orthopedic surgery were recorded at 2, 6, and 24 hours after endotracheal extubation. Construct validity was demonstrated by testing if pain scores decrease over time following surgery, if pain levels are associated with the severity classification of the surgical procedure, and if orthopedic procedures are associated with higher pain levels than soft tissue procedures. RESULTS: The animals in the sample had a mean body weight of 23.2 ± 4.2kg and a mean age of 5.9 ± 3.1 years. Sixty-three procedures were classified as soft tissue, 5 as orthopedic, 27 as mild, and 41 as moderate. Significant differences were observed in median scores between soft tissue and orthopedic cases and between mild and moderate cases. Median pain scores decreased with time. We presented the initial validation of the European Portuguese version of the CMPS-SF in the Portuguese language. It provides clinicians with a valid tool to assess acute pain in dogs. Further studies are required to determine if the present results can be replicated across samples, submitted to a larger range of surgical procedures, and in different clinical settings.