Instrumentos de avaliação da dor em pacientes com demências: uma revisão de literatura

Abstract

This study aimed to research about the existence of pain assessment tools in patients with dementia. It is known that the elderly population is increasing and with it its comorbidities, therefore is important to study about the pain in elderly patients with dementia who do not respond to a stimulus like any other elderly, thus facilitating the care and treatment of these patients. A literature review was performed to discover the existence of these instruments. Research for studies on the subject have been made in the Pubmed and Scielo databases and used the keywords: rating scale, pain, elderly, dementia and their counterparts in English, used alone or in association with others. Were included studies that were enrolled in subjects with age over 60 years-old, articles published in the last ten years; in Portuguese and English. Items that are not included in the criteria described above were automatically excluded. It was concluded that the instruments most appropriate for the assessment of pain in elders with moderate to severe dementia are those with behavioral observation.