Introduction:

Pain is common in hospitalized patients in intensive care condition; however, it is underdiagnosed in patients who are unable to express it. Multiple scales have been validated worldwide to determine the level of pain in these patients; however there are a few trained personnel to apply them as well as lack of medical information about prevalence of pain in ICU.

Objectives:

To determine prevalence of pain in hospitalized patients at the Metabolic Intensive Care Unit, with oral intubation and under sedation.

Methods: Cohort study, descriptive, observational and prospective. Including all patients hospitalized in UCIM with oral intubation plus sedation, fulfilling inclusion criteria.

Results:

A total of 36 patients were included, 77.7 % were male. Age ranged between 18 and 71 years old with 51 in average and standard deviation of 14.05. 86 % of patients were admitted for surgical pathology and 75 % were treated with analgesic combination therapy. Prevalence of pain measured with COMFORT scale was 69.4 %.

Conclusion:

Prevalence of pain in our intubated patients under intravenous sedation is same to that reported in the literature, with level of sedation as a main factor associated to increase the presence of pain.

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