Learning Their Language: The Importance of Detecting and Managing Pain in Dementia

Gerlach and Kales discuss the importance of detecting and managing pain in dementia. By virtue of age, people with dementia are at risk for the same pain-causing conditions as older people without cognitive impairment, and medical comorbidity is found to increase with dementia severity. In addition,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of geriatric psychiatry 2017-02, Vol.25 (2), p.155-157
Main Authors: Gerlach, Lauren B., D.O, Kales, Helen C., M.D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dementia
Internal Medicine
Medical diagnosis
Pain
Pain management
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Summary:Gerlach and Kales discuss the importance of detecting and managing pain in dementia. By virtue of age, people with dementia are at risk for the same pain-causing conditions as older people without cognitive impairment, and medical comorbidity is found to increase with dementia severity. In addition, although dementia itself is not believed to cause pain by physiologic mechanisms, because dementia can be associated with being sedentary and inactive, people with the condition may be at increased susceptibility to some pain-causing conditions. Pain is estimated to affect one-third to one-half of people with dementia. Although people with dementia are believed to experience pain in the same way as people without cognitive impairment, the abilities to interpret and respond to pain are both altered. Discomfort may instead be manifested as behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.
ISSN:1064-7481
1545-7214
DOI:10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.012