• Matteo Tosato, Albert Lukas, Henriette G van der Roest, Paola Danese, Manuela Antocicco, Harriet Finne-Soveri, Thorsten Nikolaus, Francesco Landi, Roberto Bernabei, and Graziano Onder.
• Centro Medicina dell'Invecchiamento, Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Scienze Gerontologiche, Geriatriche e Fisiatriche, Largo F. Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy AGAPLESION Bethesda Clinic, Competence Center of Geriatrics and Aging Research, University of Ulm, Zollernring 26, D-89073 Ulm, Germany EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Department of Nursing Home Medicine, VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands Ageing and Services Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland.
• Pain. 2012 Feb 1; 153 (2): 305-310.

AbstractThe etiology of behavioral and psychiatric symptoms is generally considered to be multifactorial, and these symptoms often indicate a need for care or assistance, which may include the presence of uncontrolled pain. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the association of pain with behavioral and psychiatric symptoms in a population of nursing home (NH) residents with cognitive impairment in Europe. Data are from the SHELTER project, which contains information on NH residents in 8 countries. Pain was defined as any type of physical pain or discomfort in any part of the body in the 3 days before the assessment. The mean age of 2822 cognitively impaired residents entering the study was 84.1 (standard deviation 9.1)years, and 2110 (74.8%) were women. Of the total sample, 538 residents (19.1%) presented with pain. After adjusting for potential confounders, pain was significantly and positively associated with socially inappropriate behavior (odds ratio [OR] 1.37; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-1.80), resistance to care (OR 1.41; 95% CI 1.08-1.83), abnormal thought process (OR 1.48; 95% CI 1.16-1.90), and delusions (OR 1.48; 95% CI 1.07-2.03). A borderline inverse association was observed with wandering (OR 0.74; 95% CI 0.55-1.00). In conclusion, this cross-sectional study provides evidence from a large sample of frail elderly showing an association between pain and behavioral and psychiatric symptoms. Treatment models that put together assessment and treatment of pain and evaluate their effect on behavioral and psychiatric symptoms are needed.Copyright © 2011 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

22 keywords...

hide…