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The Abbey pain scale: a 1-minute numerical indicator for people with end-stage dementia
Abbey J, Piller N, De Bellis A, Esterman A, Parker D, Giles L, Lowcay B.. International journal of palliative nursing, 2004-01-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
The need for a specialized clinical regimen for patients with dementia who require palliative care has only recently been recognized. Structured approaches to palliative care are not well developed. The recognition and treatment of pain is an important part of this management risk.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Abbey, J., Piller, N., De Bellis, A., Esterman, A., Parker, D., Giles, L., et al. (2004). The Abbey pain scale: a 1-minute numerical indicator for people with end-stage dementia. International journal of palliative nursing. https://doi.org/10.12968/ijpn.2004.10.1.12013
Vancouver
Abbey J, Piller N, De Bellis A, Esterman A, Parker D, Giles L, et al. The Abbey pain scale: a 1-minute numerical indicator for people with end-stage dementia. International journal of palliative nursing. 2004. doi:10.12968/ijpn.2004.10.1.12013. PMID: 14966439.
BibTeX
@article{abbey2004-14966439,
author = {Abbey, J. and Piller, N. and De Bellis, A. and Esterman, A. and Parker, D. and Giles, L. and Lowcay, B.},
title = {{The Abbey pain scale: a 1-minute numerical indicator for people with end-stage dementia}},
journal = {International journal of palliative nursing},
year = {2004},
doi = {10.12968/ijpn.2004.10.1.12013},
pmid = {14966439},
url = {https://doi.org/10.12968/ijpn.2004.10.1.12013}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Structured approaches to palliative care are not well developed.
- The recognition and treatment of pain is an important part of this management risk.
- However, pain is consistently underdiagnosed and undertreated in this population.
- A factor contributing to this has been a lack of appropriate tools to help recognize and document pain.
Why it matters
This paper describes the Abbey pain scale, a brief numerical tool to help recognize and document pain in people with end-stage dementia, where pain is consistently underdiagnosed and undertreated. It addresses palliative care management, not the treatment, cure, or prevention of Alzheimer's disease itself.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 44/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record, so that was left out: it earned 42 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 44 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (International journal of palliative nursing) |
| Journal's citation record | 0 / 4 | International Journal of Palliative Nursing: journal h-index 65 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2004 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 509 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 21.2 citations a year over 24 year(s) since 2004 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 14.3× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 3 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 66 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | OpenAlex's profile for last-listed author Belinda Lowcay holds only 5 work(s), too few to judge a track record — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | 0 / 3 | Queensland University of Technology: institution h-index 618 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 14966439) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 42 / 96 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 42 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 44 out of 100. |
| Total | 44 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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