Using an electronic pain diary to better...

Using an electronic pain diary to better understand pain in children and adolescents with arthritis

Abstract

Summary AIM: To explore the pain experience of youths (9-18 years old) with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, using a real-time data capture electronic pain diary. MATERIALS & METHODS: A descriptive study design with repeated measures was used. A total of 76 youths, aged 9-18 years old with juvenile idiopathic arthritis were recruited from a Canadian pediatric tertiary care center and asked to record their pain three times a day for 2 weeks using the e-Ouch(©) pain diary. RESULTS: On average, participants reported mild levels of pain intensity, unpleasantness and interference, as well as stiffness and mild-to-moderate levels of fatigue. Interference of stiffness and pain with activities of daily living were significantly higher in the morning versus the afternoon and evening; while fatigue was significantly higher in the morning and evening compared with the afternoon. CONCLUSION: Real-time data capture approaches can be used enable a better understanding of how pain and other symptoms in youths with juvenile idiopathic arthritis change within and across days, and how best to treat them. Valuable next steps include incorporating the e-Ouch pain diary into an everyday clinical setting to measure patient outcomes.