RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Prevalence and Nature of Cancer-Related Neuropathic Pain in Out-Patient Services in Spain
Cristina Garzón-Rodríguez1, *, Luis Olay Gayoso2, Juan M. Sepulveda3, Enrique Martínez4, Ignacio Peláez5, Luis de la Cruz Merino6, Gary Atkinson7, Vanessa López-Gómez8, Maria Pérez Páramo8, Chantal van Litsenburg9
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 6
First Page: 199
Last Page: 207
Publisher ID: TOPAINJ-6-199
DOI: 10.2174/1876386301306010199
Article History:
Received Date: 10/07/2013Revision Received Date: 30/10/2013
Acceptance Date: 01/11/2013
Electronic publication date: 29/11/2013
Collection year: 2013
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Cancer patients with neuropathic pain have been shown to have higher levels of pain interference and impaired quality of life (QoL) compared with cancer patients without neuropathic pain. This article presents sub-analysis of data from a large non-interventional study conducted between 23 August 2010 and 22 July 2011 in Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain and the UK. Descriptive data collected in 21 oncology or palliative care centers during patients’ routine out-patient visits in Spain are reported here to further investigate the prevalence and nature of cancer-related neuropathic pain (CRNP). The prevalence of CRNP in 557 cancer patients with chronic pain in Spain was estimated at 30.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 27.0-34.7) by physicians before considering scores on the PainDETECT questionnaire and 30.7% (95% CI: 26.9-34.5) after considering PainDETECT scores. Despite a similar overall number, there were shifts in the numbers of patients with or without a diagnosis of CRNP after physicians had had the opportunity to consider PainDETECT scores, particularly for patients who received an initial diagnosis of ‘unknown’. In the opinion of the physicians, 92/171 (53.8%) of the CRNP population had mixed cancer-related pain with a neuropathic component, which can be difficult to identify and effectively manage. The self-reported responses to questions and scales in this Spanish sample indicated that many aspects of daily functioning were negatively impacted within the CRNP participants and that pain was not always controlled. These data highlight the need for national guidelines to identify and treat cancer-related pain with a neuropathic component.
