Persistent pain in the elderly with dementia is neglected and effective pain diagnostic tools still lack. The aim of the study was to re-assess pain after 1 year in a group of elderly with dementia, resident in a Nursing Home. Doloplus-2 scale was adopted to detect pain and to evaluate its adequacy to address analgesia. Thirty-six out of 90 residents were affected by moderate-severe dementia and 23 patients with persistent pain were enrolled in the study. The results showed a significant reduction of Doloplus-2 score in the observational period (p <0.001) and of its mean score below the pain threshold (p <0.0001). This case analysis confirmed the clinical utility of Doloplus-2 to detect pain in patients with very advanced age and with severe dementia. The tool also confirmed its handiness and clinical applicability by nurses in order to support a systematic pain assessment in long term care
Doloplus-2 pain assessment:an effective tool in patients over 85 years with advanced dementia and persistent pain
MONACELLI, FIAMMETTA;ODETTI, PATRIZIO;TRAVERSO, NICOLA
2013-01-01
Abstract
Persistent pain in the elderly with dementia is neglected and effective pain diagnostic tools still lack. The aim of the study was to re-assess pain after 1 year in a group of elderly with dementia, resident in a Nursing Home. Doloplus-2 scale was adopted to detect pain and to evaluate its adequacy to address analgesia. Thirty-six out of 90 residents were affected by moderate-severe dementia and 23 patients with persistent pain were enrolled in the study. The results showed a significant reduction of Doloplus-2 score in the observational period (p <0.001) and of its mean score below the pain threshold (p <0.0001). This case analysis confirmed the clinical utility of Doloplus-2 to detect pain in patients with very advanced age and with severe dementia. The tool also confirmed its handiness and clinical applicability by nurses in order to support a systematic pain assessment in long term careI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.