Worst, Average or Current Pain in the Brief Pain Inventory: Which Should be Used to Calculate the Response to Palliative Radiotherapy in Patients with Bone Metastases?

Worst pain intensity had higher correlations with all functional interference scores except relationships with others. Therefore, we recommend an 11-point scale measuring worst pain to evaluate response rates in future radiotherapy trials. The mean difference from baseline to follow-up in functional interference scores was significantly larger in patients who responded to radiotherapy treatment.