Pain related to cancer or treatment is a critical quality of life (QOL) issue for breast cancer survivors. In a prospective study of 375 breast cancer patients (enrolled during 2008-2014), we characterized the risk factors for adjuvant radiotherapy (RT)-associated pain. Pain score was assessed at pre- and post-RT as the mean of four pain severity items (i.e., pain at its worst, least, average, and now) from the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) with 11-point numeric rating scale (0-10). Pain scores of 4-10 were considered clinically-relevant pain. The study consists of 58 non-Hispanic whites (NHW; 15%), 78 black or African Americans (AA; 21%), and 239 Hispanic whites (HW; 64%). Overall, the prevalence of clinically-relevant pain was 16% at pre-RT, 31% at post-RT, and 20% RT-associated increase. In univariate analysis, AA and HW had significantly higher pre- and post-RT pain compared to NHW. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, pre-RT pain was significantly associated with HW and obesity; post-RT pain was significantly associated with AA, HW, younger age, ≥2 comorbid conditions, above median hotspot volume receiving >105% prescribed dose, and pre-RT pain score >4. RT-associated pain was significantly associated with AA (odds ratio [OR]=3.27; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.09-9.82), younger age (OR=2.44, 95% CI=1.24-4.79), and 2 or >3 comorbid conditions (OR=3.06, 95%CI=1.32-7.08; OR=4.61, 95%CI=1.49-14.25, respectively). These risk factors may help to guide RT decision making process, such as hypo-fractionated RT schedule. Furthermore, effective pain management strategies are needed to improve QOL in breast cancer patients with clinically-relevant pain.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 19 January 2016.
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#106
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