• C Miaskowski, M J Dodd, C West, S M Paul, D Tripathy, P Koo, and K Schumacher.
• School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-0610, USA. chris.miaskowski@nursing.ucsf.edu
• J. Clin. Oncol. 2001 Dec 1; 19 (23): 4275-9.

PurposeTo evaluate oncology outpatients' level of adherence to their analgesic regimen during a 5-week period.Patients And MethodsA random sample of 65 adult oncology outpatients with a Karnofsky performance status score of >or= 50, an average pain intensity score of >or= 2.5, and radiographic evidence of bone metastasis were recruited for this longitudinal study from seven outpatient settings. On a daily basis, patients rated their level of pain intensity and recorded pain medication intake. Adherence rates for opioid analgesics prescribed on an around-the-clock (ATC) and on an as-needed (PRN) basis were calculated on a weekly basis.ResultsOverall adherence rates for ATC opioid analgesics ranged from 84.5% to 90.8% and, for PRN analgesics, from 22.2% to 26.6%. No significant differences over time were found in either of these adherence rates.ConclusionOne factor that seems to contribute to ineffective cancer pain management is poor adherence to the analgesic regimen.

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