Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2014 Jun;29(4):320-5.
doi: 10.1177/1533317513517046. Epub 2013 Dec 26.

The Use of Visual Analog Scales to Compare Pain Between Patients With Alzheimer's Disease and Patients Without Any Known Neurodegenerative Disease and Their Caregivers

Sara Santos  1 , Miguel Castanho  2
Affiliations
Comparative Study

The Use of Visual Analog Scales to Compare Pain Between Patients With Alzheimer's Disease and Patients Without Any Known Neurodegenerative Disease and Their Caregivers

Sara Santos et al. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2014 Jun.

Abstract

Patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) tend to underestimate their pain degree as disease progresses. Their caregivers are the most important source of information by providing regular pain evaluation. Our objectives were to compare pain intensity and affective pain between patients with AD and cognitively normal individuals (N) and to evaluate differences in pain perception between their caregivers. We evaluated pain scores of 121 patients with chronic osteoarticular pain, 60 AD, and 61 N using the colored pain scale/faces pain scale and the caregiver's perception. Data were analyzed using one and two-tailed paired t tests (P< .05). We found that the AD group reported less pain intensity and that their pain was less perceived by their caregiver. This study also points to the need of, when evaluating patients with AD always measure their pain degree using appropriate scales, instead of relying only on the caregiver.

Keywords: Alzheimer; caregiver; pain; scales.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The Colored Pain Scale
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The Faces Pain Scale
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Difference in pain report between AD group and N group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cacabelos R, Martínez R, Fernández Novoa L, et al. . Genomics of dementia: APOE- and CYP2D6-related pharmacogenetics. Int J Alzheimers Dis. 2012;2012:518901. - PMC - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th Edition). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1994.
    1. Scherder E, Eggermont L, Plooij B. Relationship between chronic pain and cognition in cognitively intact older persons and in patients with Alzheimer disease. Gerontology. 2008;54(1):50–58. - PubMed
    1. Takai Y, Yamamoto Mitani N, Okamoto Y, Koyama K, Honda A. Literature review of pain prevalence among older residents of nursing homes. Pain Manag Nurs. 2010;11(4):209–223. - PubMed
    1. Frampton M. Experience assessment and management of pain in people with dementia. Age Ageing. 2003;32(3):248–251. - PubMed

Publication types