Lints-Martindale Amanda C, Hadjistavropoulos Thomas, Barber Bruce, Gibson Stephen J
Department of Psychology and Center on Aging and Health, University of Regina, Regina, Canada.
Pain Med. 2007 Nov-Dec;8(8):678-89. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4637.2007.00358.x.
Reflexive responses to pain such as facial reactions become increasingly important for pain assessment among patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) because self-report capabilities diminish as cognitive abilities decline. Our goal was to study facial expressions of pain in patients with and without AD.
We employed a quasi-experimental design and used the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) to assess reflexive facial responses to noxious stimuli of varied intensity. Two different modalities of stimulation (mechanical and electrical) were employed.
The FACS identified differences in facial expression as a function of level of discomforting stimulation. As expected, there were no significant differences based on disease status (AD vs control group).
This is the first study to discriminate among FACS measures collected during innocuous and graded levels of precisely measured painful stimuli in seniors with (mild) dementia and in healthy control group participants. We conclude that, as hypothesized, FACS can be used for the assessment of evoked pain, regardless of the presence of AD.
对于阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者，诸如面部反应等对疼痛的反射性反应在疼痛评估中变得越来越重要，因为随着认知能力下降，自我报告能力会减弱。我们的目标是研究患AD和未患AD患者的疼痛面部表情。
我们采用了准实验设计，并使用面部动作编码系统（FACS）来评估对不同强度有害刺激的反射性面部反应。采用了两种不同的刺激方式（机械刺激和电刺激）。
FACS确定面部表情的差异是不适刺激水平的函数。正如预期的那样，基于疾病状态（AD组与对照组）没有显著差异。
这是第一项在患有（轻度）痴呆症的老年人和健康对照组参与者中，区分在无害和精确测量的分级疼痛刺激水平期间收集的FACS测量值的研究。我们得出结论，正如所假设的那样，无论是否存在AD，FACS均可用于评估诱发性疼痛。
