Expectation of a Decrease in Pain Affects the Prognosis of Pain in Cancer Patients: a Prospective Cohort Study of Response to Morphine

PURPOSE Cancer pain is a multidimensional experience that includes physiological, sensory, affective, cognitive, behavioral, and sociocultural dimensions. Few prospective studies have examined the relationship between a patient's expectation of pain improvement and the pain prognosis. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate whether patients' expectation to pain reduction was associated with pain intensity after morphine treatment in opioid treatment-naïve patients with various types of cancer. METHODS The subjects were patients scheduled for cancer pain treatment with morphine who were taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs daily. Morphine treatment was performed according to the standard method, including titration (NCCN Guidelines™, Adult Cancer Pain). Simple regression analysis was performed between pain intensity numerical rating scale (NRS) (day 8) as the dependent variable, expectation of pain decrease NRS (day 1), tumor types, and the following covariates as independent variables: patients' characteristics such as age, gender, PS (day 1), genotype of catechol-O-methyltransferase, total scores of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (day 1), and pain intensity NRS (day 1). Multiple regression analysis was performed using forced entry methods with pain intensity NRS (day 8) as the dependent variable, and expectation of pain decrease NRS (day 1) and the covariates as independent variables that had a p value <0.05 in the simple regression models. RESULTS A total of 100 patients with baseline data were included, and 97 patients (51% female) met the inclusion criteria. Patients with a high expectation of pain decrease NRS had a significantly lower pain intensity NRS (day 8) (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION Non-pharmacological factors such as expectations for pain treatment could also be important factors to treat cancer pain, which might be associated with communication skills in physicians.