Quality of Life and Morphine Dose in Cervical Cancer Patients with Chronic Pain

Abstract

Introduction: Cervical cancer in Indonesia is the second leading cancer in women. Improved management has increased the life expectancy of patients, but will be followed by various experiences that can be unpleasant such as pain. Pain is one of the main problems that reduce the quality of life of cancer patients. Pain is negatively associated with quality of life and has implications for all dimensions of quality of life. It is becoming increasingly important to evaluate the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases and the effects of treatment, particularly in the field of oncology. Reliable opioid use is crucial in cancer pain patients. Morphine is still the main choice for several reasons such as familiarity, availability and cost compared to the efficacy of other drugs. Aim and Objective: This study aims to examine the relationship between quality of life, as assessed by the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire, and daily morphine dose in cervical cancer patients with chronic pain. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study with 42 subjects of cervical cancer patients with chronic pain. Subjects were interviewed and asked to complete the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire and daily morphine dose was reviewed from medical records. Results and Conclusion: In 42 subjects, the age of the subjects was 27-63 years old with cancer stages 3 and 4. The average daily morphine dose was 50.24 mg / day. In the analysis of quality of life with morphine dose, meaning was found on the global health status scale (r = -0.467, p = 0.002), pain symptom scale (r = 0.363, p = 0.018), and constipation symptom scale (r = 0.418, p = 0.006). For other scales, no significant relationship was found Quality of life was associated with daily morphine dose on global health status, pain symptoms, and constipation symptoms scales. However, no relationship was found on other scales.