Abstract:This study provides data on experimental pain responses in a sample of children undergoing cancer treatment and suggests that pain experience may be moderated by cancer treatment type.
“…All study-related communications, forms, and procedures were given in each family’s primary language. The study participants were part of a larger study that focused on the influence of emotion regulation on pain responses of children with cancer over time, results of which have previously been published 27,28. Although the focus of the larger study was to examine the impact of different emotion regulation conditions on pain response, including memory for pain, no group differences were observed.…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The study participants were part of a larger study that focused on the influence of emotion regulation on pain responses of children with cancer over time, results of which have previously been published. 27,28 Although the focus of the larger study was to examine the impact of different emotion regulation conditions on pain response, including memory for pain, no group differences were observed. Thus, individual emotion regulation conditions were combined, and for the purposes of this study, only families who spoke English and Spanish were included.…”
The purpose of the current prospective cohort study was to determine if acculturation, measured by primary language spoken, impacts the pain response of children being treated for cancer during an experimental pain task. Sixty-seven Spanish-speaking and Englishspeaking children ages 6 to 18 years being treated for cancer provided ratings of pain and upset severity during the completion of the cold pressor task (CPT). One week following the CPT, participants provided their recollection of average pain and upset during the CPT. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed Spanish-speaking children reported significantly higher pain (F 1,64 = 5.58, P = 0.02) and upset (F 1,64 = 7.69, P = 0.007) ratings during the CPT compared with English-speaking children. Also, Spanish-speaking children were over 4 times as likely to remove their hands from the water before the CPT 4-minute uninformed ceiling compared with English-speaking children (P = 0.002). These findings suggest that cultural and contextual factors, including the level of acculturation, are important considerations in the assessment and management of pain in children with cancer. Future research should continue to examine the mechanisms underlying the association between acculturation and the symptom experience for children receiving treatment for cancer.
“…All study-related communications, forms, and procedures were given in each family’s primary language. The study participants were part of a larger study that focused on the influence of emotion regulation on pain responses of children with cancer over time, results of which have previously been published 27,28. Although the focus of the larger study was to examine the impact of different emotion regulation conditions on pain response, including memory for pain, no group differences were observed.…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The study participants were part of a larger study that focused on the influence of emotion regulation on pain responses of children with cancer over time, results of which have previously been published. 27,28 Although the focus of the larger study was to examine the impact of different emotion regulation conditions on pain response, including memory for pain, no group differences were observed. Thus, individual emotion regulation conditions were combined, and for the purposes of this study, only families who spoke English and Spanish were included.…”
The purpose of the current prospective cohort study was to determine if acculturation, measured by primary language spoken, impacts the pain response of children being treated for cancer during an experimental pain task. Sixty-seven Spanish-speaking and Englishspeaking children ages 6 to 18 years being treated for cancer provided ratings of pain and upset severity during the completion of the cold pressor task (CPT). One week following the CPT, participants provided their recollection of average pain and upset during the CPT. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed Spanish-speaking children reported significantly higher pain (F 1,64 = 5.58, P = 0.02) and upset (F 1,64 = 7.69, P = 0.007) ratings during the CPT compared with English-speaking children. Also, Spanish-speaking children were over 4 times as likely to remove their hands from the water before the CPT 4-minute uninformed ceiling compared with English-speaking children (P = 0.002). These findings suggest that cultural and contextual factors, including the level of acculturation, are important considerations in the assessment and management of pain in children with cancer. Future research should continue to examine the mechanisms underlying the association between acculturation and the symptom experience for children receiving treatment for cancer.
Purpose of review
Continual refinement and further stratification of childhood cancer treatment has led to increased survivorship with recognized improvements in many long-term health outcomes. Despite this progress, persisting pain prevalence in childhood cancer survivors is increasing and emerging as a significant long-term health concern.
Recent findings
Currently, there is no guidance on how to approach and manage persisting pain in survivors of childhood cancer.
Summary
Clinicians should work with children and young people to optimize the management of pain and other symptoms on treatment. Focusing on an early post treatment screening for pain and other symptoms (including sleep and fatigue), and the role of on-going analgesic use. Follow-up should offer a multidisciplinary approach, aimed at lessening reliance on pharmacological approaches to pain management, addressing psychological concerns and promoting increased physical activity. The onus is on clinicians to mitigate the long-term risk of pharmacological reliance, particularly opioid dependency, in patients leaving their care and heading into adulthood. In this article, we highlight the emerging evidence of persisting pain in survivors of childhood cancer as a significant long-term health outcome and consider some initial principles of management.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.