Table 2.
Pain severity and pain management indicator over time, before and after SBRT
Assessment time point | BPI “pain at its worst”* | MDASI pain item* | Strong opioid use | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n | Mean | SD | n | Mean | SD | n | % | |
Baseline | 148 | 3·4 | 2·9 | 148 | 3·4 | 3·1 | 43 | 28·9 |
Two weeks | 124 | 2·9 | 2·8 | 124 | 2·9 | 3·0 | 34 | 28·1 |
Four weeks | 109 | 2·1 | 2·4 | 109 | 2·1 | 2·6 | 26 | 23·6 |
Two months | 108 | 2·3 | 2·6 | 108 | 2·3 | 2·7 | 23 | 21·9 |
Three months | 120 | 2·1 | 2·7 | 120 | 2·1 | 2·8 | 31 | 25·6 |
Six months | 102 | 1·7 | 2·4 | 102 | 1·9 | 2·5 | 20 | 20·0 |
SBRT=stereotactic body radiotherapy. BPI=Brief Pain Inventory. MDASI=M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory. SD=standard deviation.
No significant differences between BPI “pain at its worst” mean scores and MDASI pain item mean scores (paired t-tests) were found at any time point other than the six-month assessment (p=0·022).