Assessing and quantifying the experience of pain in elderly with cognitive impairment is particularly challenging and important.

To describe the overall profile and to identify the prevalence and characteristics of pain among demented elderly.

A descriptive study including 60 institutionalised elderly aged 65 and older in the retirement home, Sfax, Tunisia. Data collection was conducted using questionnaire exploring socio-demographic and medical data. Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Katz index of independence in activities of daily living (ADL) were used to assess respectively mental status and dependence for ADL. Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS) and elderly behavioural scale (ECPA) were used to evaluate pain. Thirty-two elderly were included and the inclusion criteria were: Age ≥ 65 and MMSE score ≤ 20.

The average age of cognitively impaired residents was 74.2 years with a slight male predominance (57%). They were mostly illiterate (83%) and 56.3% of subjects were single. Almost two-thirds were admitted voluntarily and the average length of stay was 4.8 days. The ADL scale has shown that 65.6% were dependent. According to the VDS, the majority of demented subjects (93.8%) did not feel and express pain, 3% of residents with dementia had mild pain, 2.2% had moderate pain and 1.1% had severe pain. Whereas, the hetero evaluation (ECPA) concluded that 72% of demented elderly actually had pain with severe pain in 18.8% of cases.

Pain in elderly persons with dementia is a significant problem. This underlines high needs of research as well as excellent implementation concepts for assessment and treatment of pain.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.