Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialCaffeine as an adjuvant therapy to opioids in cancer pain: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Opioid therapy often shows insufficient efficacy and substantial adverse events in patients with advanced cancer. ⋯ Caffeine infusion significantly reduced pain and drowsiness, but the reduction did not reach clinical significance in patients with advanced cancer undergoing opioid therapy. Further investigations are warranted.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2013
Clinical TrialFactors to inform clinicians about the end of life in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Palliative services have historically been offered to terminal patients with cancer, but much less so in other chronic illnesses such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) because of difficulties in predicting the trajectory to death. ⋯ The changes in defined variables and patient-reported outcomes by defined cutpoints were independently associated with increased 12-month mortality in patients with severe COPD. These results may inform clinicians when to initiate end-of-life communications and palliative care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2013
Symptom burden predicts nursing home admissions among older adults.
Symptom burden has been associated with functional decline in community-dwelling older adults and may be responsive to interventions. Known predictors of nursing home (NH) admission are often nonmodifiable. ⋯ Symptom burden is an independent risk factor for NH admission. Aggressive management of symptoms in older adults may reduce or delay NH admission.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2013
Comparative StudyA survey of joint and muscle aches, pain, and stiffness comparing women with and without breast cancer.
Joint and muscle aches, pain, and stiffness have been reported to be a problem for some women after adjuvant breast cancer treatment; however, the extent and impact of this problem are unknown. ⋯ Treatment with tamoxifen, taxane chemotherapy, and aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer is predictive of joint pain, which may have an impact on women's lives for some years after breast cancer.