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Home › Research › End-of-life care

Pain management at the end of life: A comparative study of cancer, dementia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients

Romem A, Tom SE, Beauchene M, Babington L, Scharf SM, Romem A.. Palliative medicine, 2015-02-13

This page is alzhub.org's plain-English summary of a published study, not the paper itself. It is generated from the record we hold for this study, sourced and linked below — check the original for the full text and methods.

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 43 out of 100. End-of-life care

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Background Limited data exist concerning the unique pain characteristics of patients with non-cancer terminal diseases referred for inpatient hospice care. Aims To define the unique pain characteristics of patients admitted to an acute inpatient hospice setting with end-stage dementia or chronic obstructive lung disease (or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and to compare them to patients with end-stage cancer. Design Retrospective patient chart review. Demographic, physiological, pain parameters, and medication utilization data were extracted. Associations between pain characteristics, medication utilization, and admission diagnoses were assessed. Analyses included descriptive statistics. Setting/participants In total, 146 patients admitted to an acute inpatient hospice between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2012 with an underlying primary diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 51), dementia (n = 48), or cancer (n = 47). Results Pain was highly prevalent in all diagnostic groups, with cancer patients experiencing more severe pain on admission. Cancer patients received a significantly higher cumulative opioid dose compared with dementia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. Pain control within 24 h of pain onset was achieved in less than half of all patient groups with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients the least likely to achieve pain control. Conclusions Despite the fact that pain is the most common complaint at the end of life, pain management may be suboptimal for some primary diagnoses. Admission diagnosis is the strongest predictor of pain control. Patient with cancer achieve the best pain control, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients are the least likely to have their pain adequately treated.

Key findings

Study details

How this study scored 43/100
How this study's score is builtJournal tier 7 of 10; Journal's citation record left out, no data; Study design 0 of 12; Strength of evidence 1 of 5; Peer-review validation 10 of 10; How recent 1 of 5; Sample size 1 of 4; Effect reported 0 of 3; Studied in people 3 of 3; Randomised / blinded 0 of 2; Times cited left out, no data; Citations per year left out, no data; Impact for its field and year left out, no data; Cited by studies here left out, no data; Still being cited left out, no data; Senior author's track record left out, no data; Institution's track record left out, no data; Multi-centre collaboration left out, no data; Indexed in PubMed 2 of 2; Free to read 0 of 2. 25 of the 58 points it could be judged on, which is 43 of 100. Total 43 of 100.25 of the 58 points we could judge = 43 of 100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 25 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 43 out of 100.

ComponentPointsWhy
Journal tier 7 / 10 Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Palliative medicine)
Journal's citation record — / 4 No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design 0 / 12 No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence 1 / 5 Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation 10 / 10 Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent 1 / 5 2015 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size 1 / 4 51 participants
Effect reported 0 / 3 No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people 3 / 3 Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomised / blinded 0 / 2 No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited — / 7 No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year — / 5 No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year — / 6 No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here — / 6 Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited — / 4 No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
Senior author's track record — / 4 Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record — / 3 No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multi-centre collaboration — / 3 Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed 2 / 2 Indexed in PubMed (PMID 25680377)
Free to read 0 / 2 Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points 25 / 58 Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 25 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 43 out of 100.
Total 43 / 100 —

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

APA 7th

Romem, A., Tom, S. E., Beauchene, M., Babington, L., & Scharf, S. M. (2015). Pain management at the end of life: A comparative study of cancer, dementia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. Palliative medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216315570411

Vancouver

Romem A, Tom SE, Beauchene M, Babington L, Scharf SM. Pain management at the end of life: A comparative study of cancer, dementia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. Palliative medicine. 2015. doi:10.1177/0269216315570411. PMID: 25680377.

BibTeX

@article{romem2015-25680377,
  author  = {Romem, A. and Tom, S. E. and Beauchene, M. and Babington, L. and Scharf, S. M.},
  title   = {{Pain management at the end of life: A comparative study of cancer, dementia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients}},
  journal = {Palliative medicine},
  year    = {2015},
  doi     = {10.1177/0269216315570411},
  pmid    = {25680377},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216315570411}
}

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