Dor e analgesia em pacientes com síndrome da imunodeficiência adquirida

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients, pain underdiagnostic and undertreatment are alarming and few studies have evaluated this subject, as well as the records of its incidence. This study aimed at analyzing records about pain and analgesia of hospitalized AIDS patients. METHOD: Documental research with the analysis of 63 medical charts of an AIDS treatment reference hospital of Ceara, in 2010. Data were collected via checklist and results were presented in tables with relative/absolute frequencies. RESULTS: Most medical charts had pain records (90.5%), specifying location (90.5%), improvement/worsening factors (55.6%), intensity (39.7%) and frequency (25.4%), among other aspects. Responsible for medical charts were physicians (94.7%), nurses (87.8%) and physical therapists (12.2%). Most frequent sites were headache (50.9%), abdominal pain (52.6%), chest (33.3%), lower limbs (24.6%) and low back pain (29.8%). As to intensity, pain was severe (56%), mild (28%) and moderate (16%). As to duration, pain was continuous (62.5%) and intermittent (37.5%). There has been predominance of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (66.7%), followed by common analgesics (44.4%) and adjuvants (41.3%). Non-pharmacological measures were prescribed in just 11% of medical charts. CONCLUSION: Health professionals have to pay attention to the detailed recording of pain complaints of AIDS patients, with the adoption of adequate tools to evaluate and record evaluated data, to improve assistance and control pain affecting most of these patients.