Pain from the life cycle perspective: Evaluation and Measurement through psychophysical methods of category estimation and magnitude estimation

Objective: to describe acute and chronic pain from the perspective of the life cycle. Methods: participants: 861 people in pain. The Multidimensional Pain Evaluation Scale (MPES) was used. Results: in the category estimation method the highest descriptors of chronic pain for children/ adolescents were "Annoying" and for adults "Uncomfortable". The highest descriptors of acute pain for children/adolescents was "Complicated"; and for adults was "Unbearable". In magnitude estimation method, the highest descriptors of chronic pain was "Desperate" and for descriptors of acute pain was "Terrible". Conclusions: the MPES is a reliable scale it can be applied during different stages of development.