Endpoint
Visual analogue scale pain intensity
CAT:outcome/vas-painreported in mm (0-100)
Method
Pain intensity marked by the patient on a continuous 0-100 mm or 0-10 cm visual analogue line anchored at no pain and at worst imaginable pain. Anatomical site, underlying condition, and the recall frame (pain at rest, pain on movement, or pain over a stated period) recorded on the edge. A 0-10 numerical rating scale, on which the patient states a whole number rather than marking a line, is a different instrument and is recorded as such.
The method is part of the endpoint identity. Studies measuring the same quantity by a different method are held as separate endpoints.
Notes
PVAS added 2026-08-23. A two-pass-agreed curcumin claim quoting "The PVAS was much lower in the curcumin group" was refused by object_plausibility, because the span PVAS shares no token with this entry despite naming the exact instrument it describes. Bare VAS is deliberately NOT listed: the muscle-soreness entry already carries "visual analogue scale (VAS)" in its own measurement text, so VAS would tie the two nodes on every span that contains it, and a tie is resolved by neither of them being right. Confused with the WOMAC pain subscale. Both are self-reported pain that improves by falling, but this is a single global mark on a continuous line while WOMAC pain is a five-item Likert sum tied to named activities — walking, stairs, at night, sitting, standing. They dissociate, and there are reviews in which this moved significantly while WOMAC pain did not. Also distinct from the pooled osteoarthritis-pain node, which is a standardised mean difference across mixed scales and would absorb this one if allowed to. NOTE ON SCOPE: this node deliberately covers visual analogue pain in knee osteoarthritis as well as at other sites. The site belongs on the edge, not in a second node, because a knee-specific twin would have a near-identical instrument description and would tie with this node on every knee paper.
Findings
1 finding from 1 compound, strongest first.
curcumin — decreases
LikelyGrade B, Likely. Human evidence, limited replication or design limits.Finding“The PVAS was much lower in the curcumin group than in the placebo groups (overall mean differences and CI: −2.04 and −2.85, −1.24; P <.00001).”
Quoted verbatim from Efficacy of Turmeric Extracts and Curcumin for Alleviating the Symptoms of Joint Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.. - Study
- meta-analysis
- Population
- adults with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis; curcumin vs placebo, pain visual analogue score
Effect -2.04 mean difference, 95% CI -2.85 to -1.24