Pain in long-term breast cancer survivors: frequency, severity, and impact
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To better understand the severity and impact of pain in women who are breast cancer survivors. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Cancer wellness clinic. PATIENTS: Two hundred fifty-three women with a history of early-stage breast cancer who had completed therapy and were without evidence of disease. Interventions. None. OUTCOME MEASURES: A survey that included questions about cancer history, pain, sleep problems, and physical and psychological functioning. RESULTS: About half of the participants (117 or 46%) reported some pain, although most rated its intensity as mild. Both average and worst pain ratings showed significant associations with physical functioning (rs, -0.48 and -0.43, respectively), severity of sleep problems (rs, 0.31 and 0.30), and psychological functioning (rs, -0.27 and -0.24). Age (with younger participants slightly more likely to report pain) and history of antiestrogen therapy showed nonsignificant trends to predict the presence of pain. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings provide new and important knowledge regarding the severity and impact of pain in female breast cancer survivors. The results indicate that clinicians should assess pain regularly in breast cancer survivors and treat this pain when indicated. The findings also support the need for research to determine whether improved pain management would result in improved quality of life for women with a history of breast cancer.
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The Numerical Rating Scale has been validated in patients with breast cancer.
“The NRS has been validated in patients with BC.84”
From Optimising psychological treatment for pain after breast cancer: a factorial design study protocol in Denmark (2023) · cites this paper as [84]
The Methods > Measures section says numeric pain rating scales have evidence of validity and reports using an 11-point scale in breast cancer survivors. It does not say that the scale was validated specifically in patients with breast cancer. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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- Authors
- Jensen, M. P., Chang, H.-Y., Lai, Y.-H., Syrjala, K. L., Fann, J. R., & Gralow, J. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- National Taiwan University (TW)
- Corresponding author
- Jensen, Mark P.
- Venue
- Pain Medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2010-07
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1099-1106
- ISSN
- 1526-2375 (ISSN-L)
- 1526-4637
- PMC
- PMC5886791
- OpenAlex
- W1537075467
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 1.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Pain Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA112631)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Opioid Use
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
- Keywords
- breast cancer survivors, cancer pain, pain intensity, physical function, psychological functioning, sleep disorders, antiestrogen therapy, quality of life, pain management, early breast cancer
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Breast Neoplasms, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Pain, Pain Measurement, Quality of Life, Treatment Outcome, Survivors, Fitness Centers
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