Chronic pain, functionality and quality of life in cancer survivors

Abstract

The increasing number of cancer survivors associated to a longer average life-span after diagnosis of an oncological disease facilitates the observation of deleterious long-term effects of both oncological disease and its treatment. Among these effects, chronic pain emerges as one of the most prevalent and, with its onset, there is a decrease in these patients’ functionality and quality of life. The main focus in oncological disease treatment has been tumour eradication and average life expectancy extension after diagnosis, neglecting these deleterious long-term effects. This study aims at assessing the prevalence and characteristics of chronic pain in cancer survivors as well as pain interference in their quality of life and functionality. The study selected cancer survivors (n = 85) after dismissal from oncology service to assess the presence and characteristics of chronic pain, their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and pain-related disability through a combination of different questionnaires. Chronic pain prevalence was 23.5%. In total, 85% of patients reported neuropathic pain descriptors and 45% presented diagnostic criteria for neuropathic pain. Of these patients, 45% were followed-up for pain surveillance and 35% underwent analgesic medication. There was a median pain disability index of 20.50 (14.50–35.00) and an average HRQoL of 0.5338 in chronic pain patients and 0.8872 in patients without pain. We found that chronic pain was the main negative predictor of HRQoL and was associated with decreased functionality. This study also concluded that these patients often were not offered the appropriate long-term medical follow-up. These findings highlight a need to raise awareness among health professionals to the importance of timely diagnosis and treatment of pain and its impact on HRQoL and functionality of long-term cancer survivors as well as the need to change clinical practice in order to improve healthcare provided to these patients.