Persistent Breast Pain Among Women With Histories of Breast-conserving Surgery for Breast Cancer Compared With Women Without Histories of Breast Surgery or Cancer
Open accessAbstract
Objectives: This study compared persistent breast pain among women who received breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer and women without a history of breast cancer. Methods: Breast cancer survivors (n=200) were recruited at their first postsurgical surveillance mammogram (6 to 15 mo postsurgery). Women without a breast cancer history (n=150) were recruited at the time of a routine screening mammogram. All women completed measures of breast pain, pain interference with daily activities and intimacy, worry about breast pain, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms. Demographic and medical information were also collected. Results: Persistent breast pain (duration ≥6 mo) was reported by 46.5% of breast cancer survivors and 12.7% of women without a breast cancer history ( P <0.05). Breast cancer survivors also had significantly higher rates of clinically significant persistent breast pain (pain intensity score ≥3/10), as well as higher average breast pain intensity and unpleasantness scores. Breast cancer survivors with persistent breast pain had significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms, as well as pain worry and interference, compared with survivors without persistent breast pain or women without a breast cancer history. Anxiety symptoms were significantly higher in breast cancer survivors with persistent breast pain compared with women without a breast cancer history. Discussion: Results indicate that persistent breast pain negatively impacts women with a history of breast-conserving cancer surgery compared with women without that history. Strategies to ameliorate persistent breast pain and to improve adjustment among women with persistent breast pain should be explored for incorporation into standard care for breast cancer survivors.
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The heightened emotional distress in survivors with persistent breast pain is consistent with prior work.
“The heightened emotional distress in survivors with PBP is consistent with our own prior work and that of others using cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches to examining psychological factors associated with PBP following breast cancer surgery [4, 19, 22, 35], as well as the broader literature on persistent pain following surgery in other clinical contexts [36].”
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- Authors
- Edmond, S. N., Shelby, R. A., Keefe, F. J., Fisher, H. M., Schmidt, J. E., Soo, M. S., Skinner, C. S., Ahrendt, G. M., Manculich, J., Sumkin, J. H., Zuley, M. L., & Bovbjerg, D. H.
- Affiliations
- Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
- UPMC Hillman Cancer Center (US)
- Duke Medical Center (US)
- Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center (US)
- Magee-Womens Hospital (US)
- Corresponding author
- Edmond, Sara N.
- Shelby, Rebecca A.
- Keefe, Francis J.
- Fisher, Hannah M.
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Clinical Journal of Pain
- Published
- 2017-01
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 51-56
- ISSN
- 0749-8047 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5144924
- OpenAlex
- W2328126682
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 0.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Clinical Journal of Pain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA131148)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Women's cancer prevention and management
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › BRCA gene mutations in cancer
- Keywords
- breast-conserving surgery, breast cancer survivors, post-mastectomy pain syndrome, pain interference, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, breast cancer survivorship
- MeSH terms
- Cancer Survivors, Anxiety, Breast Neoplasms, Depression, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Pain Measurement, Mastectomy, Segmental, Chronic Pain, Mastodynia
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