Identification of distinct depressive symptom trajectories in women following surgery for breast cancer.

Objective: Depressive symptoms, common in breast cancer patients, may increase, decrease, or remain stable over the course of treatment. Most longitudinal studies have reported mean symptom scores that tend to obscure interindividual heterogeneity in the symptom experience. The identification of different trajectories of depressive symptoms may help identify patients who require an intervention.

A pilot study of relationships among pain characteristics, mood disturbances, and acculturation in a community sample of Chinese American patients with cancer.

Purpose/objectives: To describe the pain experience of Chinese American patients with cancer and to examine the relationships among pain characteristics, demographic characteristics, performance status, self-reported analgesic use, mood disturbances, and patients' acculturation levels.

Design: Descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study.

Setting: Three community-based oncology facilities in the San Francisco, CA, Bay area.

Changes in sexual function on mood and quality of life in patients undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

Purpose/objectives: To describe the percentages of men with and without changes in sexual function from the beginning to end of radiation therapy and evaluate for differences in demographic and clinical characteristics, mood states, and quality of life (QOL) among patients who did and did not experience changes in sexual function.

Design: Descriptive, longitudinal.

Setting: Two radiation therapy departments in northern California.

A randomized clinical trial of the effectiveness of photon stimulation on pain, sensation, and quality of life in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Context: Peripheral neuropathy is one of the most common complications of diabetes.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of photon stimulation on pain intensity, pain relief, pain qualities, sensation and quality of life (QOL) in patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Methods: In this randomized, placebo-controlled trial, patients were assigned to receive either four photon stimulations (n=63) or four placebo (n=58) treatments.

Barriers to pain management in a community sample of Chinese American patients with cancer.

Barriers to cancer pain management can contribute to the undertreatment of cancer pain. No studies have documented barriers to cancer pain management in Chinese American patients. The purposes of this study in a community sample of Chinese Americans were to: describe their perceived barriers to cancer pain management; examine the relationships between these barriers and patients' ratings of pain intensity, pain interference with function, mood disturbances, education, and acculturation level; and determine which factors predicted barriers to cancer pain management.

A review of the literature on the pain experience of Chinese patients with cancer.

Over 2 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed annually in China. In addition, cancer is the leading cause of death in China. Because cancer is often diagnosed in more advanced stages in China, a higher percentage of patients will experience pain related to their disease or treatment.

No evidence for sex differences in the severity and treatment of cancer pain.

While chronic pain is experienced by approximately 50-90% of patients with metastatic cancer, little is known about sex differences in chronic cancer pain. Therefore, the purposes of this study, in a sample of oncology outpatients (n=187) who were experiencing pain from bone metastasis, were: 1) to determine if there were sex differences in various pain characteristics, including pain intensity, and 2) to determine if there were sex differences in the prescription and consumption of analgesic medications. No significant sex differences were found in any of the baseline pain characteristics.