Multidimensional instruments validated in Brazil for pain evaluation in the elderly: narrative review

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Multidimensional instruments for the evaluation of pain in the elderly allows to identify the conditions that involves pain considering the emotional, physical, psychological, social, and economic aspects. They are ancillary tools in the prognosis of diseases, in addition to allowing a better approach to pain considering their assessed dimensions. The objective of this study was to review the literature on multidimensional instruments validated in Brazil for the evaluation of pain in the elderly, identifying instruments aimed at elderly people with neurocognitive disorders. CONTENTS: This was a narrative review of the literature with scientific articles searched in the electronic databases Pubmed, LILACS, and Scielo. The following keywords of the Portuguese language defined by the DeCS were used: pain, pain threshold, pain measurement, aging, and the elderly. Scientific articles on instruments validated in Brazil and published in the period from 2000 to 2018 were included. There were 38 articles, of which 33 were excluded, and only 5 articles were included. The validated instruments found for pain assessment in the elderly in Brazil were the McGill Pain Questionnaire, Geriatric Pain Measure, Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Limited Ability to Communicate, Non-Communicative Patient´s Pain Assessment Instrument, Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia. CONCLUSION: The five instruments found offer the health professional a range of tools to understand pain better. Of these, three instruments allow the assessment of pain in the elderly with neurocognitive disorders