Pain in cancer: The patient experience in Spain.

Abstract

e19021 Background: For patients, pain management can be a therapeutic objective that is just as important as oncological treatment. The aim was to analyze the illness experience of a group of oncological patients with pain associated to cancer and episodes of breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP), as well as their opinions on the care received. Methods: This study is an initiative of the ECO Foundation (Oncology Excellence and Quality Foundation), undertaken with the methodological support of Francisco de Vitoria University. Descriptive, transversal, multicenter and ecological study. 47 oncologists participated. Each of them invited 6 patients that met the participation selection criteria (one patient every day for 6 consultation days). An anonymous patient questionnaire was used, produced by the Scientific Committee, so they could provide their personal opinions and scores on their oncological pain (categorical variables). The doctor was in charge of transcribing the aggregated data compiled by means of an online survey. Statistical package: version 21.0 IBM SPSS-Windows. Results: The 47 oncologists collected information from 275 patients whose average age was 62.4. 46.5% were women. Clinical profile of the patient: The most frequent location of the primary tumor was the lung (28%), followed by breast (15.3%) and the intestine/colon (13.1%). Almost half of the patients (46.2%) suffered from maximum intensity pain of 8 points or higher (on a scale of 0 to 10) within the last 24 hours. Despite this, 8 out of 10 patients reported that they are satisfied or very satisfied with their pain treatment. 43% of patients were worried about the possibility of addiction or side-effects as a result of the treatment. However, 95% expressed satisfaction with the information offered by their doctor regarding analgesic treatment. More than half of patients gave the impact of their pain on their general activity, mood, everyday work and enjoyment of life a score of ≥7 out of 10 (10 = completely impacted). Conclusions: Although the patient satisfaction level regarding the doctors’ pain management was high, there seems to be room for improvement in terms of pain control and the impact of pain on each patient’s life.