One Third of Cancer Patients Receive Inadequate Pain Treatment

Research published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that more than 33 percent of cancer patients do not receive adequate pain treatment, according to Medical News Today. Among those patients, minorities are twice as likely to receive insufficient pain medications.

The study, performed at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is the largest assessment ever conducted in an outpatient setting regarding cancer pain.

Researchers concluded that in order to improve symptom control, physicians must be "open-minded, appropriately gauging the needs of their patients, and patients and caregivers need to be more willing to communicate their pain level and other symptoms."

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