title: [Evaluation of the pain in older people].
abstract: To compare the information obtained of the percentage of improvement declared orally with the improvement marked in the visual analogical scale (VAS) in patients under and over 65 years of age.
  
  
  
  Ninety-five individuals with acute shoulder pain (enthesitis) were evaluated. The subjects were requested to mark the pain intensity in the VAS before a treatment with corticosteroid injection in the shoulder and were evaluated again through the VAS one week after the procedure. They were also requested to declare orally the pain intensity. Then, the information was compared between patients aged under and over 65 years of age.
  
  
  
  29.8% of those younger than 65 years, and 60.95% of those older than that age presented more than 10% difference between orally stated and calculated pain relief percentage based on the VSA.
  
  
  
  The difference between the orally stated and the calculated pain relief percentage based on the VSA was significantly higher in the group of those older than 65 years. This finding proved that the VAS is a poor method to evaluate pain relief in the senior population.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Federal Fluminense, Niterói, RJ, Brasil.|Hospital Santa Teresa, Petrópolis, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Labronici
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Ortopedia y Traumatologia Prof. Dr. Donato D' Ângelo, Hospital Santa Teresa, Petrópolis, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Dos Santos-Viana
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Ortopedia y Traumatologia Prof. Dr. Donato D' Ângelo, Hospital Santa Teresa, Petrópolis, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Dos Santos-Filho
authors.affiliation: Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais, MG, Brasil.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Santos-Pires
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Ortopedia y Traumatologia Prof. Dr. Donato D' Ângelo, Hospital Santa Teresa, Petrópolis, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Labronici
authors.affiliation: Hospital do Trauma y Hospital Escuela São Vicente Paula. Passo Fundo, RS, Brasil.
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Penteado-da Silva
mesh_terms: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D010147:Pain Measurement; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones
keywords: Age; enthesitis; pain; visual analogical scale (VAS)