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  • Current: Jun 15, 2022

Visual analog scale (VAS)

The visual analogue scale (VAS) is one of the indicators to quantitatively represent the degree of pain. VAS was first used by Hayes and Patterson [1].

Typically, the respondent self-evaluates the degree of her/his pain using a 10 cm horizontal line (Figure from [4]). The scores range from 0 (no pain) to 10 (the worst possible pain).


Visual analogue scale

Definitions in the literature

  • The visual analog scale (VAS) is a pain rating scale first used by Hayes and Patterson in 1921 [2].
  • Basically, the VAS consists of a continuous horizontal line, usually of 10 cm in printed length, and two descriptive phrases at the two extremities. The scale is commonly ranged from 0 (left, least extreme) to 10 (right, most extreme) [3].