Clinical characterization of pain and life quality in patients with malignant tumors

Abstract

Introduction: cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. It is estimated that 90 % of patients with malignant tumors have uncontrolled pain, which significantly affects their quality of life. Objective: to characterize pain and the quality of life of patients with malignant tumors that have uncontrolled pain. Method: a cross-sectional descriptive observational study was performed in patients with histological diagnosis of cancer disease with uncontrolled pain who attended the multidisciplinary consultations of the Oncology Hospital “Dr. Celestino Hernández Robau” between the months of October 2017 to March 2018. A population of 267 patients was used, selecting a sample of 214 patients. Results: the most frequent tumors were those of the digestive tract (32,2 %), among which mixed type pain (31,8 %) predominated. The most frequent type of pain among patients with malignant tumors was somatic (40,2 %). The pain was described as strong in 63,6 % of the patients. The episodic character prevailed over the permanent (58,9 %). Regarding general health, the majority of patients (85,0 %) defined it as bad and the overall quality of life was mostly evaluated as regular (51,4 %) and poor (44,8 %). Conclusions: the most frequent type of pain was somatic, followed by mixed and visceral. As for the intensity it was mostly described as a strong pain, of episodic character. General health and overall quality of life was valued mostly as regular and bad.

Keywords

• dolor
• neoplasias
• calidad de vida.