The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
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Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · Jul 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialThe response of agitated behavior to pain management in persons with dementia.
Behavioral disturbances and pain are common in nursing home (NH) patients with dementia. An association between pain and increased agitation has been suggested, and recently a significant reduction of agitation has been demonstrated by pain treatment in patients with moderate to severe dementia. We now examined which specific agitated behaviors respond to individualized pain treatment. ⋯ We found that verbal agitation behaviors such as complaining, negativism, repetitious sentences and questions, constant request for attention, and cursing or verbal aggression responded to pain treatment. In addition, restlessness and pacing were sensible to analgesics. Such behaviors should therefore lead to an assessment of pain, and pain treatment. Further studies comparing how pain treatment should be balanced against other strategies including psychotropic drugs are needed.