• Shu-Yuan Liang, Chin-Ching Li, Shu-Fang Wu, Tsae-Jyy Wang, and Shiow-Luan Tsay.
• School of Nursing, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Science, Taipei, Taiwan.
• Pain Manag Nurs. 2011 Dec 1;12(4):197-205.

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to report the prevalence and impact of pain among Taiwanese oncology outpatients who had experienced moderate pain. Ninety-two cancer outpatients in two teaching hospitals in the Taipei area of Taiwan were enrolled in a descriptive cross-sectional study. Outpatients aged ≥18 years who had been prescribed opioid analgesics for cancer-related pain completed the Brief Pain Inventory-Chinese questionnaire. Results of this study highlighted an important issue: undertreatment of cancer pain in the Taiwanese outpatients. Patients in this study reported that in the preceding 24 hours they had experienced a mean worst pain of 6.91 (SD 2.06, range 0-10). The average pain intensity in the preceding 24 hours was 5.21 (SD 1.69, range 0-10). Around 50% of the patients had pain most of the time and 25% of the patients had pain all of the time. In the preceding 24 hours the average pain relief experienced was 62.6% (SD 22.2%, range 0%-100%). Only 10.9% of patients experienced good pain relief (defined as 90%-100% of pain relief in the past 24 hours), whereas 45.7% experienced poor pain relief (defined as 0%-60% of pain relief in the past 24 hours). The mean pain interference with the patients' daily activities was 5.69 (SD 2.33, range 0-10). The findings of this study indicate the need for better programmatic efforts to improve relief of cancer pain in Taiwanese outpatients.Copyright © 2011 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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