Table 1.
Baseline personal and clinical characteristics of nursing home residents assigned to intervention (stepwise protocol for treatment of pain) or continued usual medical care. Values are numbers (percentages) of patients unless stated otherwise
| Characteristics | Control group (n=177 residents) | Intervention group (n=175 residents) |
|---|---|---|
| No of clusters* | 27 | 33 |
| Median (range) of patients per cluster | 7 (3-10) | 6 (2-10) |
| Mean (range) age (years) | 87 (67-104) | 85 (65-101) |
| Women | 131 (74) | 132 (75) |
| Prescribed drugs: | ||
| Antipsychotics | 47 (27) | 43 (25) |
| Anxiolytics or hypnotics | 88 (50) | 80 (46) |
| Anti-dementia | 44 (25) | 53 (30) |
| Opioid analgesics | 32 (18) | 35 (20) |
| Peripheral analgesics | 71 (40) | 75 (43) |
| Median (range) Cohen-Mansfield agitation inventory (scores 29-203)† | 51 (39-114) | 53 (39-126) |
| Median (range) mini-mental state examination (scores 0-30)‡ | 8 (0-20) | 7 (0-20) |
| Median (range) functional assessment staging (scores 1-7)§ | 6 (4-7) | 6 (4-7) |
| Median (range) neuropsychiatric inventory—nursing home version (scores 1-144)¶ | 29 (0-97) | 32 (1-101) |
| Median (range) MOBID-2 pain scale (scores 0-10)**; pain ≥3 | 3.0 (0-10); 98 (55) | 4.0 (0-10); 103 (59) |
| Median (range) activities of daily living (scores 0-20)†† | 8.0 (0-20) | 7.00 (0-19) |
MOBID-2=mobilisation-observation-behaviour-intensity-dementia-2.
*Cluster defined as a single independent nursing home unit.
†Higher scores indicate more agitation (scores ≥39 usually accepted as clinically significant).
‡Higher scores indicate more cognitive impairment.
§Higher scores indicate more cognitive impairment.
¶Higher scores indicate more agitation.
**Higher scores indicate more pain (scores ≥3 accepted as clinically relevant).
††Higher scores indicate more activities of daily living.