Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialLife-sustaining treatment preferences: matches and mismatches between patients' preferences and clinicians' perceptions.
Better clinician understanding of patients' end-of-life treatment preferences has the potential for reducing unwanted treatment, decreasing health care costs, and improving end-of-life care. ⋯ Clinicians erred more often about patients' wishes when patients did not want treatment than when they wanted it. Treatment decisions based on clinicians' perceptions could result in costly and unwanted treatments. End-of-life care could benefit from increased clinician-patient discussion about end-of-life care, particularly if discussions included patient education about risks of treatment and allowed clinicians to form and maintain accurate impressions of patients' preferences.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2013
Validity and reliability of the Swedish version of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS): an instrument for the evaluation of symptom prevalence, characteristics, and distress.
There are few scales in Swedish that assess symptoms in the dimensions of frequency, severity, and distress. ⋯ The Swedish version of the MSAS presents as a valid and reliable measure for assessing symptom distress, severity, and frequency in Swedish patients diagnosed with primary and recurrent breast cancer.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2013
Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Brazilian version of the Wisconsin Brief Pain Questionnaire.
Chronic pain is a common complaint among patients with muscular disease. The Wisconsin Brief Pain Questionnaire (WBPQ) has been used to quantify pain severity and pain interference with daily functions. ⋯ We found the WBPQ-B to be a reliable and valid instrument for pain assessment of Brazilians who have muscular disease. The survey presents similar psychometric properties to the original version.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2013
Restless legs syndrome as a cause of sleep disturbances in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.
Sleep disturbances are frequent in cancer patients during chemotherapy; the contributory role of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in this setting has never been assessed. ⋯ RLS can be a contributory factor in sleep disturbances in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Screening for RLS could aid in tailoring a potentially more efficacious treatment of such disturbances.
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The use of targeted therapy at the end of life has not been well characterized. ⋯ Targeted agents were used as often as chemotherapy at the end of life, particularly among younger patients and those with hematologic malignancies. Guidelines on targeted therapy use at the end of life are needed.