Reliability and Validity of UNESP-Botucatu Cattle Pain Scale and Cow Pain Scale in
Bos taurus and
Bos indicus Bulls to Assess Postoperative Pain of Surgical Orchiectomy.
Animals (Basel) 2023;
13:ani13030364. [PMID:
36766253 PMCID:
PMC9913732 DOI:
10.3390/ani13030364]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Pain assessment guides decision-making in pain management and improves animal welfare. We aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of the UNESP-Botucatu cattle pain scale (UCAPS) and the cow pain scale (CPS) for postoperative pain assessment in Bos taurus (Angus) and Bos indicus (Nelore) bulls after castration.
METHODS
Ten Nelore and nine Angus bulls were anaesthetised with xylazine-ketamine-diazepam-isoflurane-flunixin meglumine. Three-minute videos were recorded at -48 h, preoperative, after surgery, after rescue analgesia and at 24 h. Two evaluators assessed 95 randomised videos twice one month apart.
RESULTS
There were no significant differences in the pain scores between breeds. Intra and inter-rater reliability varied from good (>0.70) to very good (>0.81) for all scales. The criterion validity showed a strong correlation (0.76-0.78) between the numerical rating scale and VAS versus UCAPS and CPS, and between UCAPS and CPS (0.76). The UCAPS and CPS were responsive; all items and total scores increased after surgery. Both scales were specific (81-85%) and sensitive (82-87%). The cut-off point for rescue analgesia was >4 for UCAPS and >3 for CPS.
CONCLUSIONS
The UCAPS and CPS are valid and reliable to assess postoperative pain in Bos taurus and Bos indicus bulls.
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