Pain often untreated in elderly with dementia

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many older adults with dementia and pain don't receive adequate drug treatment for their pain, according to a study.

Researchers who reviewed the patient records of 115 adults with dementia living in the community found that more than half (54 percent) reported noncancer-related pain "on an average day."

The caregivers of more than half of these subjects reported no use of pain medication. Of the subjects who did use a painkiller, most were taking typical over-the-counter analgesics and none were prescribed a strong prescription opioid.

Forty-six percent of all subjects had "potentially insufficient analgesia," report Dr. Joseph W. Shega, of Northwestern University, Chicago, and colleagues in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The majority of subjects in the cohort were African-American women in their 80s. Most of the patients had mild-to-moderate dementia, and nearly one quarter were clinically depressed.

These findings, the researchers conclude, hint that "many persons with dementia and noncancer pain are not receiving pharmacological treatment for pain."

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, December 2006.