Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2014
Multicenter StudyQuality of life in patients with advanced cancer at the end of life as measured by the McGill quality of life questionnaire: a survey in China.
Quality of life (QOL) is the main outcome measure for patients with advanced cancer at the end of life. The McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire (MQOL) is designed specifically for palliative care patients and has been translated and validated in Hong Kong and Taiwan. ⋯ Our results revealed the aspects of QOL that need more attention for Chinese palliative care patients with advanced cancer. The association between the characteristics of patients, Karnofsky Performance Status, and their QOL also was identified.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2014
A psychometric evaluation of the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-palliative care (FACIT-Pal) scale with palliative care samples in three African countries.
Although sub-Saharan Africa suffers the greatest burden of progressive illness, there are few outcome measures with adequate properties to measure needs and outcomes. ⋯ The FACIT-Pal is a reliable multidimensional scale for people with life-limiting incurable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, and the observed factors are interpretable and clinically meaningful.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2014
Multicenter StudyLongitudinal temporal and probabilistic prediction of survival in a cohort of patients with advanced cancer.
Survival prognostication is important during the end of life. The accuracy of clinician prediction of survival (CPS) over time has not been well characterized. ⋯ Probabilistic CPS was consistently more accurate than temporal CPS over the last 14 days of life; however, its accuracy decreased as patients approached death. Our findings suggest that better tools to predict impending death are necessary.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialNeurolytic sympathectomy in the management of cancer pain-time effect: a prospective, randomized multicenter study.
Sympathectomy is currently used as the fourth step of the modified World Health Organization (WHO) analgesic ladder. Sympathectomy can be performed early, before the second step on the ladder. ⋯ Sympathectomy before Step 2 on the WHO analgesic ladder seems to lead to better pain control, less opioid consumption, and better quality of life in cancer patients.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 2014
Perceived discrimination in health care is associated with a greater burden of pain in sickle cell disease.
Perceived discriminatory experiences in society have been associated with a higher burden of pain among some minority patient populations. ⋯ Perceived disease-based, but not race-based, discrimination was found to be associated with a greater range of self-reported pain among patients with SCD. If causal, this finding could signal an important new approach to mitigating the burden of pain experienced by persons with SCD.