title: Pain assessment in patients with possible vascular dementia.
abstract: PREVIOUS studies comparing Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with the normal elderly suggest that AD patients experience less pain. In the present study, pain reporting in 20 patients with possible vascular dementia (VaD) was compared to 20 nondemented elderly who had comparable pain conditions. It was hypothesized that, due to de-afferentiation, the possible VaD patients would experience more pain than the cognitively intact elderly. Pain assessment was conducted using three visual analogue scales, (1) the Coloured Analogue Scale (CAS) for Pain Intensity, (2) the CAS for Pain Affect, and (3) the Faces Pain Scale (FPS); a verbal pain questionnaire, Number of Words Chosen--Affective (NWC-A) of the McGill Pain Questionnaire; and an observation scale, the Checklist of Nonverbal Pain Indicators (CNPI). Results showed a significant increase in the scores on the CAS for Pain Affect and the FPS in the demented patients compared to the control group. There was a tendency for an increase in scores on the CNPI in the VaD group. These results suggest that patients with possible VaD suffer more pain than healthy elderly without cognitive impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, Vrije Universiteit, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. EJA.Scherder@psy.vu.nl
authors.forename: Erik J A
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Scherder
authors.forename: Joris
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Slaets
authors.forename: Jan-Berend
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Deijen
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gorter
authors.forename: Marcel E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ooms
authors.forename: Miel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ribbe
authors.forename: Pieter-Jelle
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Vuijk
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Feldt
authors.forename: Marinus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van de Valk
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bouma
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sergeant
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires