November 1, 1997Annals of Internal Medicine
Pain and Treatment of Pain in Minority Patients with Cancer: The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Minority Outpatient Pain Study
Authors
Discussion
Loading...
Member takes
Implication
Prospective clinical study reveals substantial undertreatment of cancer pain in minority outpatients, highlighting disparities in analgesic prescribing and pain control.
Key Points
- To evaluate the severity of cancer-related pain and evaluate the adequacy of prescribed analgesic therapy in minority outpatients.
- Prospective clinical study conducted within the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group among N=281 minority outpatients with recurrent or metastatic cancer.
- Patients and treating physicians independently rated pain severity, pain-related functional impairment, and degree of analgesic relief, with analgesic adequacy assessed using established guidelines.
- Disease-related pain or analgesic use was reported by 77% of patients, with 41% of those in pain reporting severe pain severity.
- Guideline-recommended analgesic prescriptions were not received by 65% of minority patients compared to 50% of non-minority patients (P < 0.001), with Hispanic patients experiencing the lowest rates of adequate analgesia and pain relief.
Cite This Study
Charles S. Cleeland (1997) studied this question.