<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><bold>Background</bold>: A significant number of patients with cancer suffer from anxiety and depressive disorder. Perceived emotional distress, anxiety and depressive symptoms are significantly more frequent in cancer patients with pain than in patients without pain. Despite their high prevalence cancer pain and distress are frequently undertreated.<bold>Material and method</bold>: Thirty two oncology patients were included in the study who were receiving concurrent oncologic and pain treatment in the Oncology Clinic TgMures. Patient demographic and clinical information was obtained from medical records and patient report. Patients were screened for pain scores using the Visual Analog Scale and distress scores, using the Distress Thermometer.<bold>Results</bold>: The gender proportion of the sample is: 38% female, 62% male. More than 75% of the sample was over 50 years of age, and more than half of the patients (59.3%) had metastatic disease. Significant decreasing trend were seen for pain score difference before and after the pain treatment was reassessed (dosage increase or conversion) (p&lt;0.0001), and decreasing trend seen for distress score (p&lt;0.0001) also.<bold>Conclusions</bold>: Pain and distress occurred concomitant in this population. An adequate pain management and pain reassessment contributes to improve the cancer patient emotional distress score, anxiety and depressive symptoms. An accurate screening instrument can facilitate the recognition of patients who needs further assessment and psychiatric treatment.</abstract>

Background: A significant number of patients with cancer suffer from anxiety and depressive disorder. Perceived emotional distress, anxiety and depressive symptoms are significantly more frequent in cancer patients with pain than in patients without pain. Despite their high prevalence cancer pain and distress are frequently undertreated.Material and method: Thirty two oncology patients were included in the study who were receiving concurrent oncologic and pain treatment in the Oncology Clinic TgMures. Patient demographic and clinical information was obtained from medical records and patient report. Patients were screened for pain scores using the Visual Analog Scale and distress scores, using the Distress Thermometer.Results: The gender proportion of the sample is: 38% female, 62% male. More than 75% of the sample was over 50 years of age, and more than half of the patients (59.3%) had metastatic disease. Significant decreasing trend were seen for pain score difference before and after the pain treatment was reassessed (dosage increase or conversion) (p<0.0001), and decreasing trend seen for distress score (p<0.0001) also.Conclusions: Pain and distress occurred concomitant in this population. An adequate pain management and pain reassessment contributes to improve the cancer patient emotional distress score, anxiety and depressive symptoms. An accurate screening instrument can facilitate the recognition of patients who needs further assessment and psychiatric treatment.

Pain and Distress in Cancer Patients

University of Medicine and Pharmacy Tirgu Mures, Romania

Acta Marisiensis - Seria Medica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Pain and Distress in Cancer Patients"}

Background: A significant number of patients with cancer suffer from anxiety and depressive disorder. Perceived emotional distress, anxiety and depressive...

Pain and Distress in Cancer Patients

Published Online: Nov 07, 2015

Page range: 213 - 216

Received: Dec 09, 2014

Accepted: Jun 04, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/amma-2015-0057

Keywords
cancer pain, distress, anxiety, depression

© 2015 Burger-Szabo Anna et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Pain and Distress in Cancer Patients

Published Online: Nov 07, 2015

Page range: 213 - 216

Received: Dec 09, 2014

Accepted: Jun 04, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/amma-2015-0057

Keywordscancer pain, distress, anxiety, depression

© 2015 Burger-Szabo Anna et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
cancer pain, distress, anxiety, depression