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Patients with head and neck cancer may need more intensive pain management to maintain daily functioning: a multi-center study

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of pain, pain management, and impact of recent pain on daily functioning in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) and patients with other cancers.

Methods

This multi-center survey was conducted by using Brief Pain Inventory questionnaire to evaluate pain status and its impact on daily functioning.

Results

A total of 3289 patients were analyzed including 708 HNC patients and 2581 patients with other cancers. The overall pain prevalence was 69.17%. A higher percentage of HNC patients had recent pain (60.59 vs. 44.01%, P < 0.001), required pain management (86.29 vs. 72.03%, P < 0.001), and used any analgesics (53.81 vs. 34.52%, P < 0.001). HNC patients with pain management had a higher prevalence of recent pain (85.83 vs. 81.14%, P = 0.044) and a slightly lower satisfaction rate (74.00 vs. 79.70%, P = 0.070). Regarding the impact of pain on daily functioning, HNC patients had a lower mean interference score for general activity such as walking, normal work, sleep, and life enjoyment.

Conclusions

The HNC patients may need more intensive pain management to achieve optimal pain control and maintain daily functioning.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Taiwan Cancer Palliative Care Society and by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Taiwan. Editorial support in the form of copyediting and manuscript formatting was provided by Cactus Communications and funded by Janssen Taiwan. This study was also supported by a grant from Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (KMUH103-3M11).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, No. 100, Tzyou 1st Road, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan

    Shih-Feng Cho & Ta-Chih Liu

  2. Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Shih-Feng Cho

  3. Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Kun-Ming Rau

  4. College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Kun-Ming Rau & Jen-Shi Chen

  5. Department of Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yu-Yun Shao

  6. Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan

    Chia-Jui Yen

  7. School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Ming-Fang Wu

  8. Division of Medical Oncology, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    Ming-Fang Wu

  9. Division of Medical Oncology in the Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine,, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Jen-Shi Chen

  10. Department of Internal Medicine, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan

    Cheng-Shyong Chang

  11. Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    Su-Peng Yeh

  12. Division of Transfusion Medicine, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Tzeon-Jye Chiou

  13. School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Tzeon-Jye Chiou

  14. Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ruey-Kuen Hsieh

  15. School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan

    Ming-Yang Lee

  16. Department of Oncology, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan

    Yung-Chuan Sung

  17. Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yung-Chuan Sung

  18. Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chia-yi, Taiwan

    Kuan-Der Lee

  19. Division of Hematology and Oncology, E-DA Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Pang-Yu Lai

  20. Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Ming-Sun Yu

  21. Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    Wen-Li Hwang

Authors
  1. Shih-Feng Cho
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  2. Kun-Ming Rau
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  8. Su-Peng Yeh
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  9. Tzeon-Jye Chiou
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  10. Ruey-Kuen Hsieh
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  12. Yung-Chuan Sung
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  13. Kuan-Der Lee
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  14. Pang-Yu Lai
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  15. Ming-Sun Yu
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  17. Ta-Chih Liu
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Contributions

S.F.C. and T.C.L. designed the study.

K.M.R., Y.Y.S., C.J.Y., M.F.W., J.S.C., C.S.C., Y.M.L., T.J.C., R.K.H., M.Y.L., Y.C.S., K.D.L., P.Y.L., M.S.Y., W.L.H., and T.C.L. collected clinical data.

S.F.C. and T.C.L. conducted the database interpretation and statistical analysis.

S.F.C. wrote the manuscript.

T.C.L. approved of the last version of the manuscript.

All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ta-Chih Liu.

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Conflict of interest statement

We have read and understood the policy of Supportive Care in Cancer on disclosing conflicts of interest. The authors of this manuscript do not have any financial relationship with the organization that sponsored the research. The authors have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review study-related data if requested.

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Cho, SF., Rau, KM., Shao, YY. et al. Patients with head and neck cancer may need more intensive pain management to maintain daily functioning: a multi-center study. Support Care Cancer 27, 1663–1672 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-018-4404-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-018-4404-x

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