TY - JOUR T1 - Assessment of the clinically relevant change in pain for patients with sciatica JF - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases JO - Ann Rheum Dis SP - 1180 LP - 1181 DO - 10.1136/ard.2003.015792 VL - 63 IS - 9 AU - B Giraudeau AU - S Rozenberg AU - J-P Valat Y1 - 2004/09/01 UR - http://ard.bmj.com/content/63/9/1180.abstract N2 - The visual analogue scale (VAS) is widely used for pain assessment. However, the minimum clinically relevant change remains a debated question, even with regard to the method of assessment. On the one hand, considering intra-individual change in acute pain, Todd et al suggested a crude change of 13 mm (for a 100 mm VAS) to discriminate between reporting a little less or a little more pain.1 In the study of Farrar et al the best cut off points were estimated at −20 mm (for a crude change) or −33% (for a relative change) to best discriminate between patients who require a rescue opioid dose or not.2 Similar results were also derived when considering patient self appreciation of improvement in chronic pain.3 On the other hand, Redelmeier et al suggested focusing on interindividual change … ER -