Abstract: Introduction
Pain is a common symptom in cancer patients, and its control and management are complex.
Despite the high concomitant use of psychotropic drugs among such patients, the
association among pain, inadequate pain control, and psychotropic drug use has not been
fully determined. This study examined the prevalence of cancer pain and inadequate pain
control and the association with psychotropic drug use.
Materials and methods
In this cross-sectional study, we investigated 402 medical records obtained by simple random
sampling of oncology patients at a hospital in northern Spain from July 2012 to July
2014. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were estimated together with their 95% confidence intervals
(95% CIs) by unconditional logistic regression for each type of psychotropic drug (anxiolytics,
hypnotics, and antidepressants).
Results
The mean patient age was 61.17 (standard deviation ± 13.14) years; 57.5% were women,
42.5% men. Pain was present in 18.4% of patients and inadequate pain control in 54.2%.
We found a statistically significant association between the presence of cancer pain and
anxiolytic use (adjusted OR, 3.15; 95% CI, 1.49±6.68) and hypnotic use (adjusted OR, 5.19;
95% CI, 1.77±15.25). Inadequate pain control was associated to a greater extent with the
use of those drugs: adjusted OR for anxiolytic use, 4.74 (95% CI, 1.91±11.80); adjusted OR
for hypnotic use, 6.09 (95% CI, 1.74±21.32). By contrast, no association was found between
pain and antidepressant use (adjusted OR, 0.99).
Conclusion
The presence of pain and (to a greater extent) poor pain control were associated with
increased use of certain psychotropic drugs, such as anxiolytics and hypnotics. There
appeared to be no association between pain and antidepressant use.
Autoría: Parás-Bravo P., Paz-Zulueta M., Alonso-Blanco M., Salvadores-Fuentes P., Alconero-Camarero A., Santibañez M.,
Fuente: PLoS ONE 2017 12
(6): e0178742
Editorial: Public Library of Science
Año de publicación: 2017
Nº de páginas: 15
Tipo de publicación: Artículo de Revista
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178742
ISSN: 1932-6203