Global Cancer Pain Management: A Systematic Review Comparing Trials in Africa, Europe And North America

Abstract

Aim: Despite the rise in cancer survivorship, few reviews have examined the quality of studies of cancer pain management and practices around the globe. With a void in trials spanning multiple geographical settings, this review evaluates the quality of cancer trials across three continents. Materials & methods: A literature review and search of established databases was conducted to identify eligible studies. The Cochrane method, the Jadad Score and a cancer pain-specific ad hoc tool were used to evaluate quality of studies. Results: Eighteen studies representing a total of 4693 individuals were included in the review. Study quality correlated positively with study sample size and palliative care index. Trials in all three continents were prone to use opioids for pain management, whereas trials in Europe and North America utilized other adjuvant therapies such as antidepressants and steroids. Conclusion: This review underscores the need for better multidimensional quality assessment tools for cancer pain trials.

KEYWORDS:

• cancer pain
• evidence-based practice
• outcomes
• quality
• systematic review

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2217/pmt-2016-0047

Acknowledgements

The authors thank P Hurst for reading and editing the first draft of the manuscript. Our sincere appreciation goes to C Price (CP) of the Welch Medical Library, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, for assistance with systemic literature search and retrieval.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.