Measuring the pain of OA
You've heard us say this before! When we are assessing our painful patients and creating a plan, we need some outcome measures. You know what they say, if it's not measured, it's not managed!
Here you will find the resources we recommend in our webinars that you can link to and download.
Caregiver Reported Outcome Measures
Caregiver-reported outcome measures (also known as owner-reported outcome measures, client-reported outcome measures [CROMs], are simple tools that pet owners or caregivers use to evaluate a dog's pain, daily function, and quality of life. We recommend using these for all of your pain cases. If clients are struggling to complete any of the other tools on this page, then we find CROMs can help - and you can hear most of them during your history taking.
Canine Brief Pain Inventory
The Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI) is a validated, owner-completed questionnaire developed to evaluate chronic pain—most commonly osteoarthritis or cancer pain—in dogs.
The link to the user guide is here.
Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs
The Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs (LOAD) tool is another valuable resource for assessing osteoarthritis in dogs. It provides a standardized method for evaluating the impact of OA on a dog's quality of life. This tool is essential for tracking the progression of the disease and the effectiveness of treatment plans.
You can access the following resources for LOAD:
Helsinki Chronic Pain Index
The Helsinki Chronic Pain Index (HCPI) is a validated, owner-completed questionnaire designed to assess and quantify chronic pain in dogs, primarily caused by osteoarthritis.
Canine Orthopedic Index
The Canine Orthopedic Index (COI) is a validated, owner-completed questionnaire developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. It is designed to evaluate and quantify the impact of orthopedic conditions—such as osteoarthritis—on a dog's daily life.
Link to the Canine Orthopaedic Index
Quality of Life Tools
Vetmetrica
Our webinar here provides further detail on the development and use of Vetmetrica. Professor Jackie Reid from Newmetrica reviews the development of acute and chronic pain scoring tools in dogs and cats.
Access Vetmetrica here.
QOA-Lyon
Xpertise QOA-Lyon is a scientific and educational program focused on assessing the impact of osteoarthritis (OA) on the quality of life of companion animals.
Access QoL Lyon here.
Which tool to choose? We don't have a specific recommendation of one versus another. Pay attention to which tools are validated for which types of disease - that's important. What we would recommend is a practice discussion to decide which option you use and also to ensure everyone understands the output.
Chronic pain scoring is one of the mandatory components of becoming a Zero Pain Practice and here you will find all of those tools in one place.
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