Abstract
Background Cancer-related pain (CRP) is a major problem with a potential negative impact on quality of life of the patients and their caregivers. Purpose To assess the adequacy of cancer-related pain management in Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (ACSH). Methodology. A facility-based cross-sectional study design was conducted in ACSH from January to March 2019. A well-structured professional-assisted questionnaire using Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF) was used to collect data concerning the severity of pain, functioning interference, and adequacy of pain management in cancer patients. Data were analyzed using SPSS v.21. Result Out of 91 participants, 47 (51.6%) were male and 52 (57.1%) were between the age group of 18–45, with the mean age of 44.8 ± 13.6 years. According to the pain assessment tool (BPI), 85 (93.4%) patients experienced pain and 90 (98.9%) patients had activity interference; negative pain management index (PMI) was observed in 40 (43.95%) patients, showing that 43.95% were receiving inadequate pain management. Out of 38 patients who received no analgesics, 35.2% were found to have inadequate pain management, whereas those who took strong opioids had 100% effective pain management and the majority of the patients were in stage III. Among 38 (41.76%) only 20 (52.63%) received adequate pain management, based on patients' self-report in which 18.7% of the participants stated that they got 30% pain relief and only 1.1% got 90% relief. The predictors of undertreatment were presence of severe pain, metastasis, comorbidity, and stage of the cancer and could also be due to the educational level and monthly income, as evidenced by significant association. Conclusion This study suggests that cancer pain management in ACSH was sufficient for only 56%. However, large numbers of individuals are suffering from a manageable pain. Hence, remedial action should be taken, including increasing awareness of symptom management in medical staff and incorporating existing knowledge into routine clinical practice.
Highlights
Cancer is a disease condition in which the body’s cells begin to grow and proliferate in an uncontrollable way [1, 2]. e major cause of cancer, 90–95% of cases, is due to genetic mutations from environmental factors and the remaining 5–10% is by inherited genetics [3]. e pathophysiology of cancer is very complex in which malignancy occurs through overexpression of normal oncogenes or underexpression of tumor suppressor genes. e report from the World Health Organization (WHO) [4] shows that cancer is the major cause of morbidity and mortality globally, 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million deaths annually
Pain assessment is an integral component of cancer pain management which aims at identifying pain characteristics, pain etiology, specific pain syndromes, and analgesic targets using pain management index (PMI) [9]
As the adequacy of Cancer-related pain (CRP) treatment is not well studied in Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (ACSH) so far, we aimed to evaluate the adequacy of CRP management and its determinants
Summary
Cancer is a disease condition in which the body’s cells begin to grow and proliferate in an uncontrollable way [1, 2]. e major cause of cancer, 90–95% of cases, is due to genetic mutations from environmental factors and the remaining 5–10% is by inherited genetics [3]. e pathophysiology of cancer is very complex in which malignancy occurs through overexpression of normal oncogenes or underexpression of tumor suppressor genes. e report from the World Health Organization (WHO) [4] shows that cancer is the major cause of morbidity and mortality globally, 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million deaths annually. E report from the World Health Organization (WHO) [4] shows that cancer is the major cause of morbidity and mortality globally, 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million deaths annually. Greater than half of the patients with cancer experience pain from moderate to severe intensity [6, 7]. Cancer-related pain (CRP) is a major problem with a potential negative impact on quality of life of the patients and their caregivers. To assess the adequacy of cancer-related pain management in Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (ACSH). A well-structured professional-assisted questionnaire using Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF) was used to collect data concerning the severity of pain, functioning interference, and adequacy of pain management in cancer patients. Is study suggests that cancer pain management in ACSH was sufficient for only 56%. Remedial action should be taken, including increasing awareness of symptom management in medical staff and incorporating existing knowledge into routine clinical practice
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