Journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics
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A pain relief score 50% of the maximum is often used as a clinically meaningful outcome in meta-analyses of analgesic trials. This arbitrary value requires validation. ⋯ The analysis suggests that the arbitrary 50% cut-off point TOTPAR score often used in meta-analyses of analgesic trials in dental pain is reasonably acceptable. This is different to the 33% cut-off point reported for analgesic trials of acute breakthrough cancer pain and some chronic pain states such as diabetic neuropathy and postherpetic neuralgia. These differences deserve careful consideration when reading reports of analgesic trials and meta-analyses. Remedication itself should be considered as the preferred outcome measure for analgesic trials.