| Cancer pain is a dynamic, subjective experience and affected by many factors, but little is known about pain pattern. We determined the influence of demographic, cancer, and other pain characteristics on pain patterns and the stability of pain patterns over a 4-week time period among outpatients with cancer.;Participants with cancer (N=1,037; mean age 57.0, SD12.9 years; 57% male; 70% Caucasian) completed the Pain Intensity Number Scale and either the paper and pencil or computerized versions of the McGill Pain Questionnaire. We conducted multinomial logistic regressions to find the best fitting model for the data and Chi-square test for pain pattern stability.;Overall 50% of participants were correctly predicted by four pain pattern groups: continuous (25%), intermittent (29%), transient (18%), and mixed pain pattern groups (79%). The significant predictors of the four pain pattern groups were age, race/ethnicity, cancer type, number of pain sites, average of pain intensity, sensory and miscellaneous pain quality (p < .05). Over the 4-week time period, the proportion of participants in each of the pain pattern group differed (p < .05); 47.4% were in the same group at both measurement points. About half of the participants in the continuous and mixed pain pattern groups remained stable whereas almost two-thirds of participants in the intermittent and transient groups shifted pattern groups at the 4-week follow-up visit. These findings may help clinicians and researchers anticipate patients at greater risk for difficult-to-control pain patterns. Appropriate timing of pain treatments to pain patterns may provide better cancer pain control. |
