Assessing pain in persons with dementia.

WHY: There is no evidence that persons with dementia physiologically experience less pain than do other older adults. Rather than being less sensitive to pain, cognitively-impaired elders may fail to interpret sensations as painful, are often less able to recall their pain, and may not be able to verbally communicate it to their care providers. As such, cognitively impaired older adults are often under-treated for pain (Horgas & Tsai, 1998).