Healthy sleep habits should be encouraged in breast
cancer patients diagnosed with neuropathic pain.
According to a recent study conducted to evaluate the breast cancer treatment-related NP impact oversleep quality, sleep quality may get affected for almost a one year after the treatment in women treated for breast cancer.
Breast cancer develops from breast tissue in women. The
management of breast cancer is possible if diagnosed at the right time;
however, the treatment approach is painful like every other cancer. In some people, the pain is resolved after
the treatment, but in some people, it may persist even after the treatment. One
of the pain among breast cancer patients is the neuropathic pain (NP), which is
related to chemotherapy medications. These medications travel throughout the
body and can damage the nerves, thereby causing pain and also affects other
body functioning like sleep.
The study included a total of 501 women being treated for breast cancer. Among these patients, the incidence of NP was determined through systematic evaluations. Further, the severity of NP was evaluated through Brief Pain Inventory severity subscale and quality of sleep through Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). All the analysis was done after treatments and one year after enrollment. The association between NP and the pain quality was done by using Adjusted regression coefficients (β) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).
According to the analysis, NP was
related to a declined sleep quality during the first year of follow-up. The
pain was among the patients who had a good sleep quality at baseline. The
difference between both was highlighted when only the cases of NP with greater
severity was examined. The PSQI analysis showed that two factors- daytime
dysfunction, and sleep duration were most affected by NP. Therefore, the whole
study showed that sleep hygiene was important among patients having breast
cancer with NP, especially in those who had good sleep quality before
treatments.
The Breast
Neuropathic pain after breast cancer treatment and its impact on sleep quality one year after cancer diagnosis
Filipa Fontes et al.
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