A team of investigators has found that pain intensity appears to be highly variable in patients with stage IV cancer. High pain variability was most likely to occur among the following:
Minorities.
Patients diagnosed within the previous 3 months.
Patients with moderate to severe baseline pain.
The highest pain variability was observed among patients with head and neck cancer, but the intensity of their pain tended to decrease during the disease course.
Abstract: Cancer, June 6, 2012 (online).
