The type of medicine, being a woman, history of ARM, self-medication, and presenting digestive and dermatological symptoms were factors strongly linked to an ARM in patients attending the emergency service.

Drug interaction is a serious clinical problem which requires the availability of more in depth information and medical attention.

Objective: The validation of a pain assessment scale for non communicative Spanish patients: Spanish version of the Abbey scale.Patients and methods: Geriatric unit in the hospital setting included all non-communicative patients over 60 years, with the exclusion of those who had respiratory failure, cerebral coma, severe brain trauma, or taking palliative oncological treatment. Variables: age, sex, carer, reason for admission, diagnosis, treatment, scale scores. Patients were evaluated using the Abbey scale for the detection of pain, Mini-Mental for evaluation of cognitive impairment, and the Global Deterioration Scale. When pain was detected it was treated with round the clock analgesics, and the patient was evaluated at 24 hour intervals, until pain was controlled, scale scores were noted each time.Statistical Analyses: Descriptive study of the variables tested. Psychometric properties: Reliability: Intrarater (ICC-intraclass correlation coefficient), Inter-rater (Kappa) and the internal consistency of the scale was measured using α-Cronbach. Validity: predictive validity was measured using ROC curve analysis, concurrent validity (Spearman) and sensitivity to change (Wilcoxon).Results: Data was collected from 119 non communicative patients; 71 (59.7%) women, mean age 81.62 ± 0.716. Pain was detected in 44 patients (37.8%). Reliability: ICC (intrarater) = 0.77; kappa (inter-rater) = 0.65 and α-cronbach RESUMENObjetivo: El dolor en pacientes no comunicativos es un problema clínico a resolver. En nuestro país, no disponemos de momento, de un método validado al castellano para paliar el problema, por lo que nos propusimos hacerlo validando la escala Abbey.Pacientes y métodos: Incluimos a aquellos pacientes mayores de 60 años, no comunicativos, de ambos sexos, y excluimos a aquellos con un estado febril o con diagnóstico de cáncer, traumatismo cráneo-encefálico, coma neurológico y a todo paciente que podía responder verbalmente a la pregunta de si "tiene usted dolor", que ingresaron a lo largo de un año en la unidad geriátrica de un hospital general. Al ingreso se aplicaron el MiniMental, la escala Reisburg (Global Deterioration Scale) y la versión española de la escala Abbey, a cada paciente que cumplía los criterios de inclusión. En aquellos pacientes con un dolor potencial, se hizo un seguimiento cada 24 h tras aplicar analgésicos con pauta horaria, según la escalera analgésica de la OMS, hasta la remisión del dolor.Tratamiento estadístico: Propiedades psicométricos de fiabilidad; alfa-cronbach, concordancia interobservador (I:Kappa) e intraobservador (ICC). Propiedades psicométricos de validez; validez predictiva para un punto de corte de tres (curva ROC, especificidad y sensibilidad, I.Youden); validez concordante en-