Most Cancer Survivors Have High-Impact Chronic Pain
/By Crystal Lindell
Just because someone beats cancer, that doesn’t mean the related physical pain is gone. In fact, new research suggests that a majority of cancer survivors endure high-impact chronic pain that significantly limits life and work activities.
That’s according to a new study recently published in the journal Supportive Care in Cancer.
Danish researchers studied the different levels of pain, disability, psychological distress, and self-rated health of 270 cancer survivors classified as having high-impact chronic pain. Nearly two-thirds (61%) had high-impact pain, with the rest have mild or “bothersome” chronic pain.
Compared with the mild and bothersome pain groups, the high-impact group reported significantly higher pain intensity and disability; higher depression scores; more widespread pain; and lower self-rated health and quality of life.
Researchers say medical professionals should be aware that many cancer survivors likely have high-impact chronic pain – and as such they may need more intense treatment options.
“The findings underline the need for systematic assessment of pain impact, not just its presence, in cancer rehabilitation,” the authors wrote.
High-impact chronic pain going unrecognized in cancer patients has real consequences.
Earlier this year, PNN reported how common it is for women to suffer from chronic pain after mastectomies, a lifesaving surgery that removes a patient’s breasts to treat or prevent breast cancer. After surgery, many women have post-mastectomy pain syndrome, which can last for years.
“I’ve known women who’ve had chronic pain — itching, burning, stabbing pain — for years after mastectomies,” said Kathy Steligo, an author of multiple books on breast cancer. “Of all the problems, that is probably the one least talked about by surgeons.”
It’s not just an issue isolated to patients in remission or recovering from surgery and chemotherapy. Even patients with active cancer can have a hard time getting medical teams to take their pain seriously.
In 2023, we reported on a study that found the number of cancer patients seeking treatment for pain in U.S. emergency departments had doubled from 2012 to 2019.
Of the 35 million visits made to an emergency department by those patients, over half were deemed preventable – meaning the visits could have been avoided if the patient had received proper care earlier.
One explanation for the lack of treatment was the widespread reduction in opioid prescribing after the 2016 CDC opioid guideline. The guideline was only intended for non-cancer primary care patients, but was quickly adopted by doctors treating all types of pain, including cancer.
According to a small 2021 study in the journal Cancer, some cancer patients were so wary of the stigma surrounding opioids they were reluctant to take opioid medication to relieve pain – even though the risk of opioid addiction and overdose is low for cancer patients.
