Prevalence and management of cancer pain in Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen, Thailand.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Cancer pain remains an invisible problem in cancer care and our study aimed to document its prevalence, characteristics, and patterns of management at a tertiary care teaching hospital. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive, prospective, cohort study. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We recruited 335 consecutive adult patients diagnosed with cancers, admitted to Srinagarind Hospital, between February and April 2004. All of the participants were interviewed, and their pain evaluated by direct assessment using a numeric rating scale. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of cancer pain prior to admission was 56.5%, and within the first 24 hours of admission 41.5%. Three-quarters (74%) of patients with pain reported improvement; however one-third of those with pain never received any pain control intervention. Moreover; about half of those with persistent pain only received treatment by requesting it and then only received simple analgesics. CONCLUSION: Cancer pain remains under-detected and under-treated in many patients. Pain monitoring on a regular basis as well as a training program on pain management should be considered as first-line tools for improving pain control among cancer patients.