RESEARCH - Joint pain is increased in breast cancer patients

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Joint Pain Is Increased in Breast Cancer Patients

By Jill Stein

SAN ANTONIO, (Reuters Health) Dec 12 - Joint pain is more common and

more severe in women with breast cancer than age-matched controls

without breast cancer, researchers reported at the 2008 San

Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

Dr. Deborah Fenlon, with the University of Southampton, UK, and

colleagues analyzed responses to questionnaires completed by 247 women

with breast cancer following primary breast cancer treatment and 272

women without breast cancer undergoing routine mammography. The mean

time since diagnosis in the breast cancer group was 36 months.

" Cancer detection and treatment are improving, and presently almost

two thirds of newly diagnosed patients are likely to survive for at

least 20 years, " Dr. Fenlon, Senior Research Fellow at the Macmillan

Research Unit, observed. As a result, " more women are living with the

long-term sequelae of breast cancer treatment. "

While joint and muscle aches, pains and stiffness are among the more

common complaints in women treated for breast cancer, the present

study is the first to compare the prevalence and patterns of these

symptoms to those in women of a similar age without cancer, she said.

Participants in the trial completed three widely validated pain

questionnaires (the Nordic musculoskeletal pain questionnaire, the

Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and the SF-36 general health

questionnaire).

The researchers also obtained medical and demographic data as well as

information about factors that might contribute to their symptoms such

as menopausal status and weight.

Overall, 61.9% of breast cancer patients complained of pain on the day

they were questioned versus 49.4% of women without cancer. Current

pain was significantly worse in the breast cancer group, with a mean

score of 4.2 on the 10-point Beck Pain Inventory scale compared to 3.4

in women without breast cancer.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/585276

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