Patient Barriers to Adequate Analgesia among Irish Palliative Care Patients

Cancer pain is associated with significant costs. Uncontrolled cancer pain impairs physical and psychological functioning while also being associated with increased resource utilization and healthcare costs. Patients continue to report high levels of cancer pain despite the presence of effective guidelines, shown to produce highly significant and sustained reductions. These guidelines are based on the WHO analgesic ladder with opiate analgesics as the mainstay of treatment for moderate to severe pain regardless of its etiology. This study aimed to examine patient barriers to cancer pain control among Irish palliative care patients by examining patient reported pain, prescribed analgesics and patient concerns about reporting pain and using analgesics using internationally validated tools.