Tomacheuski Rubia M, Trindade Pedro He, Merenda Victoria R, Lopez-Soriano Magdiel, Pairis-Garcia Monique
Translational Research in Pain, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
Anim Welf. 2025 Apr 28;34:e27. doi: 10.1017/awf.2025.22. eCollection 2025.
Pain monitoring and diagnosis are crucial in seeking to improve animal welfare. This pilot study aimed to investigate the impact of long hours observation on pain assessment and the intra-observer reliability in piglets using video recording. A total of ten piglets, five from the control group (sham castration; pain-free) and five from the pain group (surgical castration; pain-state), were video-recorded immediately post-castration. The videos were randomised and assessed by an experienced observer using the Unesp-Botucatu Pig Composite Acute Pain Scale (UPAPS). The same ten videos were watched at three different times (trial initiation, half-way point, trial termination) with a four-week interval between them. During the four-week interval periods, the observer watched an additional 360 videos from another study to simulate long observation periods. For the pain group, no differences were found in the test for the UPAPS total score, and most of the UPAPS items. In contrast, for the control group, the UPAPS total score was higher at the half-way time-point, and no differences were found between UPAPS items. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) inferred 'very good' intra-observer reliability for UPAPS total score in all time-points of assessment for both groups. Video-recorded pain assessment is a reliable method to assess pain in piglets given that observation duration for pain assessment had only minimal impact on the UPAPS total score, and no differences were found among most of the items. From an animal welfare standpoint, video-recorded pain assessment is a non-invasive method, that can be an additional asset for pain research.
疼痛监测与诊断对于改善动物福利至关重要。这项初步研究旨在调查长时间观察对仔猪疼痛评估的影响以及使用视频记录时观察者内部的可靠性。总共十只仔猪，五只来自对照组（假阉割；无痛），五只来自疼痛组（手术阉割；疼痛状态），在阉割后立即进行视频记录。视频被随机分组，并由一名经验丰富的观察者使用圣保罗大学-博图卡图猪综合急性疼痛量表（UPAPS）进行评估。相同的十段视频在三个不同时间（试验开始、中间点、试验结束）观看，每次观看间隔四周。在四周的间隔期内，观察者观看了来自另一项研究的另外360段视频，以模拟长时间观察期。对于疼痛组，在UPAPS总分及大多数UPAPS项目的测试中未发现差异。相比之下，对于对照组，UPAPS总分在中间时间点更高，且UPAPS项目之间未发现差异。组内相关系数（ICC）推断两组在所有评估时间点的UPAPS总分观察者内部可靠性为“非常好”。鉴于疼痛评估的观察持续时间对UPAPS总分影响极小，且大多数项目之间未发现差异，视频记录的疼痛评估是评估仔猪疼痛的可靠方法。从动物福利的角度来看，视频记录的疼痛评估是一种非侵入性方法，可为疼痛研究提供额外的帮助。
