Pain in hospitalized patients with dementia: underrecognition and undertreatment

What was studied

A retrospective study in a medical department of a tertiary hospital evaluated pain recognition and management in hospitalized patients with dementia compared with those without dementia. The study included 114 patients; 54.4% of participants had dementia.

Key findings

Pain prevalence in the overall study population was 45.6%, with no statistically significant difference between the groups with and without dementia. Nevertheless, the authors reported that pain was often underrecognized and undertreated, although most patients received at least one analgesic.

Pain assessment used the Numeric Rating Scale and the Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia Scale (PAINAD). Non-pharmacological interventions were absent.

Implications for practice

The findings suggest a need for structured pain management protocols and team training to improve care for patients with dementia. The abstract does not provide separate pain prevalence estimates for each group, identify the analgesics used, or describe specific study limitations.