Correlation between Biomarkers of Pain in Saliva and PAINAD Scale in Elderly People with Cognitive Impairment and Inability to Communicate

• Main Authors: Vanesa Cantón-Habas, Manuel Rich-Ruiz, María Teresa Moreno-Casbas, María Jesús Ramírez-Expósito, Jose Manuel Martínez-Martos, María Del Pilar Carrera-González
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
• Series: Journal of Clinical Medicine
• Subjects: dementia; pain; pain assessment in advanced dementia (PAINAD); biomarkers; nursing
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/7/1424

The pain assessment in advanced dementia (PAINAD) appears to be a clinically useful tool. However, the salivary determination of tumor necrosis factor receptor type II (sTNF-RII) and secretory IgA (sIgA) as pain biomarkers is still incipient. The aim was to correlate the PAINAD score with sTNF-RII and sIgA biomarker levels in the saliva of patients with advanced dementia. In this regard, a cross-sectional study was conducted. The sample consisted of 75 elderly patients with a clinical diagnosis of dementia and a global deterioration scale (GDS) score of 5 to 7. The PAINAD scale was determined by a previously trained professional and the collection of salivary samples was performed using the passive secretion method. Human sTNF-RII and sIgA using ELISA kits. The results showed a correlation between the PAINAD scale (numeric, binary, and recoded) and sTNF-RII and sIgA (<i>p</i> < 0.001). No association between the sociodemographic and clinical variables and the PAINAD scale was found (<i>p</i> > 0.05). Between 97.3% and 96.2% of patients with pain on the PAINAD scale also showed pain based on the sTNF-RII levels; in all of them, sIgA levels did not fit the logistic models. Therefore, the correlation highlights the usefulness of this scale and confirms the usefulness of sTNF-RII and sIgA as biomarkers of pain.