Assessment of pain and nutritional status in patients suffering from lung cancer

BACKGROUND: Is there a link between pain and reduced food intake in patients suffering from lung cancer. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: A prospective trial was conducted to determine: 1)Distribution of respondents by frequency of pain according to a validated Visual Analog Scale (VAS), 2)Display the distribution of respondents who reported reduced food intake, 3)Display the distribution of factors that have led to the reduced food intake. METHODS: A prospective trial was conducted on a sample of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer in order to determine the frequency, characteristics and treatment of chronic malignant pain (N=76). These are the results from November 2013 to June 2014. For pain assessment we used validated VAS. Monitoring of patients was documented in the form of nursing documentation. Component included collecting the following data: stage and the type of cancer and treatment, age, sex, vital signs, BMI, subjective symptoms, reduction of food consumption. RESULTS: During the study were made 417 measurements: 1)59,5% subjects mainly reported absence of pain, while none of the respondents reported the existence of the highest degree of pain, 2)32,1% of patients reported reduced food intake, and 67,9% of respondents indicated that have not reduced the regular diet, 3)As a reason for the reduced food intake 37,7% respondents stated loss of appetite, 31,2% fatigue and 24,6% pain. CONCLUSION: By regular monitoring of the intensity of the pain we made good management in controlling malignant pain, which is an important data in the assessment of nutritional status. The fact is that the poor controlled pain is present in 24% of patients and has been the reason for the reduced food intake.