Cancer pain and its influence on cancer patients′ quality of life

Objective To study cancer pain and its effect on cancer patients′ quality of life.Methods Medical Outcomes Study 36 Item Short Form Health Survey (SF 36) and Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) methods were used to investigate cancer pain, its effect on patients′ quality of life and management in 200 cancer inpatients.Results The incidence of cancer pain was 69%, including 21.5% with mild pain, 19% with moderate pain and 28.5% with severe pain. Moderate and severe pain occurred more frequently in patients with cancer of the digestive tract. No correlation was found between pain and stage of the disease, but was closely associated with bone metastasis. Regardless of its severity, cancer pain seriously affected patients general activity, mood, walking ability, normal work and sleep. With the seriousness of pain, the patients were more affected. However, there was no obvious difference between moderate and severe pain in terms of their effect on the patients′ joy of life and relations with people. The effect of moderate pain on patients′ mentality appeared earlier than did severe pain. Among patients with cancer pain, 41.3% of them did not receive proper treatment. Only 52.1% of patients with severe pain were given strong opioids, which is far from the anti pain standard set forth by the WHO.Conclusion Cancer pain is one of the most important factors which affect cancer patients′ quality of life. For adequate control of cancer pain, there is still a long way to go to achieve WHO′s goal.