OBJECTIVES

Pain among breast cancer patients severely affects patient's quality of life and puts enormous burden on the healthcare system. This study describes incident pain diagnoses and pain medication use among newly diagnosed breast cancer patients.

METHODS

Retrospective descriptive analysis study using commercially insured population claims data (2008 – 2018) was conducted. Female breast cancer patients older than 18 years of age with 6 months of continuous enrollment before cancer diagnosis and 15 months after were included. Pain conditions were divided into acute, subacute and chronic conditions and medications were divided into non-opioid, opioids, opioid combinations and adjuvant analgesics. Identification of incident pain conditions and medications use was carried out using international classification of disease 9/10 clinical modification (ICD9/10 CM) and generic product identifier (GPI) codes. Student t-test and chi square test were used for comparisons as appropriate. All analysis was conducted in SAS version 9.4, Cary, N.C.

RESULTS

8420 patients were included, 17.9% were diagnosed with acute pain, 10.1% with subacute and 16% with chronic pain, and 56.3% with no pain. Mean age was 59 years among all three pain conditions (p=0.84). Lumbosacral radiculopathy, lymphedema and post mastectomy pain syndrome were the highest observed pain conditions among breast cancer patients (19%, 11.8% and 9.7%) respectively. The most commonly prescribed medications for pain relief were opioids and its combinations and non-opioid analgesics (47% and 18%) respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Among the newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, 44% were diagnosed with incident pain conditions. Radiculopathy and lymphedema were the top two pain conditions observed. Opioids and its combinations and non-opoid analgesics were the highest prescribed pain medications to breast cancer patients for pain relief.