painad_score: Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia (PAINAD) Scale

In cliot: Clinical Indices and Outcomes Tools

Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia (PAINAD) Scale

Description

Calculates the PAINAD score, a tool designed to assess pain in patients with advanced dementia who cannot verbally communicate. The scale evaluates five behaviors: breathing, negative vocalization, facial expression, body language, and consolability. Each item is scored from 0 to 2, yielding a total score ranging from 0 to 10.

Usage

painad_score(breathing, negative_vocalization, facial_expression,
             body_language, consolability)

Arguments

breathing	Numeric (0-2). 0: Normal; 1: Occasional labored breathing/short hyperventilation; 2: Noisy labored breathing/long hyperventilation/Cheyne-Stokes.
negative_vocalization	Numeric (0-2). 0: None; 1: Occasional moan/groan/low-level negative speech; 2: Repeated troubled calling out/loud moaning/crying.
facial_expression	Numeric (0-2). 0: Smiling/inexpressive; 1: Sad/frightened/frown; 2: Facial grimacing.
body_language	Numeric (0-2). 0: Relaxed; 1: Tense/distressed pacing/fidgeting; 2: Rigid/fists clenched/knees pulled up/striking out.
consolability	Numeric (0-2). 0: No need to console; 1: Distracted/reassured by voice/touch; 2: Unable to console/distract/reassure.

Value

A list containing:

PAINAD_Score	The calculated total score (Range 0-10).
Severity	Interpretation of pain severity (No Pain, Mild, Moderate, Severe).

References

Warden V, Hurley AC, Volicer L. Development and psychometric evaluation of the Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia (PAINAD) scale. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2003;4(1):9-15. doi:10.1093/geront/43.suppl_1.9

Examples

# Example 1: Moderate Pain
# Labored breathing (1), Moaning (1), Frown (1), Tense (1), Distractible (1)
# Score = 5
painad_score(1, 1, 1, 1, 1)

# Example 2: Severe Pain
# Noisy breathing (2), Crying (2), Grimacing (2), Rigid (2), Unable to console (2)
# Score = 10
painad_score(2, 2, 2, 2, 2)

cliot documentation built on Dec. 1, 2025, 1:06 a.m.