Disease-specific pain measures for osteoarthritis of the knee or hip.

Many elders suffer from chronic pain resulting from osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee or hip. This review identifies useful pain measures for assessing OA. Several disease-specific pain measures are discussed: Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales pain subscale, Western Ontario and McMaster University OA Index pain subscale, pain subscales of the Index of Severity for OA of the Hip or of the Knee, and Knee Pain Scale. Generic pain measures, the verbal descriptor scale, and the 21-point box scale, also are discussed. Because knee/hip OA is characterized by pain that is activated during or aggravated by certain activities, disease-specific pain scales that measure pain associated with these various activities are more effective than a generic pain scale.