172) Factors that Affect Analgesic Prescriptions in African Americans with Cancer Pain

Abstract

The experience of cancer pain is poorly understood from the perspective of African Americans, who experience higher levels of pain, more pain-related distress, and poorer function than Caucasians. Perceived control over pain has been shown to lead to decreased pain and distress and improved functional status. Perceived control over pain may play a role in the adequacy of prescriptions received by African American patients with cancer pain. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between factors affecting analgesic prescriptions and perceived control over pain in African Americans with cancer pain. This investigation will be done through a secondary analysis of analgesic prescriptions from of a larger study testing an intervention to improve pain, pain-related distress, and functional status through increasing perceived control over pain. Participants (n=310) who met the criteria of being adult cancer patients and self-identified as African American and reported moderate to severe pain (>4 on a 0-10 scale) within the past two weeks were recruited from the waiting room of an urban comprehensive cancer center.\xa0Baseline data will be used for this analysis to characterize the adequacy of pain management, as measured by the Pain Management Index (PMI), in African American adults with cancer pain. Further analysis will examine the extent of adequate pain control (as measured by the PMI) and its correlation with education, marital status, gender, perceived control over pain, and presence of a caregiver as measured by the demographic questionnaire. The study seeks to gain an understanding of the factors which increase the likelihood of a patients receiving adequate analgesia from their providers.\xa0Findings from this study will enlighten patient factors and potential areas of intervention leading to adequate analgesia and explore disparities experienced by this population. This work was supported by the National Cancer Institute 1 RO1 CA149432-01A1.