Abstract
Cancer is an increasing public health burden for Ethiopia. Pain is among the most common symptoms in patients with cancer. Hence, we aimed to assess cancer pain prevalence, cancer pain interference, and adequacy of cancer pain treatment in the oncology ward of an Ethiopian teaching hospital. Of 83 patients, total of 76 (91.6%) cancer patients experienced pain with varying degree of severity, and 7 (8.4%) patients experienced severe pain. Of the 76 cancer patients with pain, 68 (89.2%) experienced pain interference with their daily activities. Fifty-four (65%) patients were receiving inadequate cancer pain treatment with negative Pain Management Index. Therefore, it is vital to anticipate and assess pain of the cancer patients as routine clinical practice, to optimize analgesic therapy, and to identify and overcome barriers to adequate pain management.
Highlights
Cancer is an increasing public health burden for Ethiopia and currently accounts for four per cent of all deaths in Ethiopia [1]
Half of cancer patients report interference in daily activity caused by pain [6, 7]
Based on the presence of pain interference on functioning, moderate-severe pain interference was less likely to be present in patients having secondary school educational level (COR = 0.17, 95% CI, 0.032–0.9), cancer patients having tumor stage II (COR = 0.19, 95% CI, 0.051–0.77), and patients whose pain was adequately treated (AOR = 0.39, 95% CI, 0.154–0.98) (Table 4)
Summary
Cancer is an increasing public health burden for Ethiopia and currently accounts for four per cent of all deaths in Ethiopia [1]. Most cancer patients experience pain as one of the most common symptoms due to either the cancer itself (the primary tumor or metastases) and/or the cancer treatment (surgical, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and others) [2, 3]. Information about the prevalence of cancer pain in other parts of Ethiopia is limited. Cancer pain is more common in patients with advanced or metastatic cancer [4, 5]. Half of cancer patients report interference in daily activity caused by pain [6, 7]. Even when treated, is often severe enough to impair their ability to function [8]
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