Pain
-
Multicenter Study
Prevalence and incidence of chronic pain with or without neuropathic characteristics in patients with cancer.
This prospective national multicenter study was carried out to estimate the prevalence and incidence of chronic pain with or without neuropathic characteristics in patients with cancer in France. All consecutive outpatients (n = 1885) seen over 2 weeks for cancer treatment in 12 oncology units were invited to participate in the study, and 1805 were included. Patients underwent a clinical examination during visit 1, and a questionnaire was completed to detect chronic pain (defined as daily pain for at least 3 months), and to characterize its intensity, location, and neuropathic characteristics (ie, DN4 score ≥4). ⋯ Pain intensity and interference were higher in patients with neuropathic characteristics. In total, 1285 patients were included in the incidence study, 873 of whom were seen at least once, 3, or 6 months after the first visit. The incidence of chronic pain during the 6-month follow-up period ranged from 13% to 28%, depending on primary tumor location, and neuropathic characteristics were found in 19.9% of patients with chronic pain.
-
A primary goal in managing pain is to reduce pain and increase physical function (PF). This goal is also tied to continuing payment for treatment services in many practice guidelines. Pain interference (PI) is often used as a proxy for measurement and reporting of PF in these guidelines. ⋯ A parallel process latent growth curve model analysis showed a weak, unidirectional relationship (β = 0.18) between average PF scores and changes in PI over the course of 90 days of care, and no relationship between average PI scores and changes in PF across time. Although PI and PF seem moderately related when measured concurrently, they do not cluster closely together across time. The differential pathways between these 2 domains suggest that therapies that target both the consequences of pain on relevant aspects of persons' lives, and capability to perform physical activities are likely required for restoration of a vital life.
-
Patients with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (TN) were categorised into 3 subtypes (n = 225). Group 1 (n = 155, 68.9%) had TN without concomitant pain, group 2 (n = 32, 14.2%) had TN with intermittent concomitant pain, and group 3 (n = 39, 16.9%) had TN with autonomic symptoms. We tested 2 hypotheses: (1) that different pain profiles would be associated with the different groups; (2) that the severe pain associated with TN would impact negatively on activities of daily living and thereby result in disability as defined by the World Health Organisation. ⋯ Prior to referral, only 54% had been prescribed carbamazepine while opioids had been prescribed in 14.6% of the patients. Prior to referral, over 80% had already been to 1 specialist centre which had not provided appropriate management. Patients with TN report varied characteristics but all result in some degree of psychosocial disability especially before adequate therapy is attained.