Patient-reported pain severity, pain interference and health status in HR+/HER2- advanced/metastatic breast cancer.

Introduction: Patient-reported pain severity and related impact in advanced/metastatic breast cancer (ABC/MBC) are not well documented. The objective of this study was to assess pain and general health status in hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) ABC/MBC.

Methods: Data were collected in the USA and Europe in a real-world, cross-sectional study. Patients were recruited at oncology practices and completed validated questionnaires; pain severity and interference were assessed using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and general health status using the EuroQoL-5D (EQ-5D-3L). Descriptive statistics were generated for the overall cohort, and stratified by type of therapy and sites of metastases. Differences between patient groups were assessed via the Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon test. The relationship between pain scores and general health status was assessed using Kruskal-Wallis tests.

Results: Overall, 173 oncologists and 739 patients participated. The majority of patients rated their worst pain, average pain and pain interference as mild (59%, 77% and 70%, respectively). Most patients (>90%) reported no problems or moderate problems for all items of the EQ-5D-3L. Current treatment had no significant associations with pain severity or interference. Patients on chemotherapy reported significantly higher proportions of moderate/extreme levels of anxiety/depression (66.7%) and significantly lower general health status (60.7) compared with those on endocrine therapy (53.1% and 64.4, respectively). Pain severity and interference, all EQ-5D-3L items except self-care and the EQ-5D-3L health utility index were also significantly associated with sites of metastases, with greater impact in patients with visceral and bone metastases than those with bone only or visceral only metastases. Significant associations were observed between pain and health status, with increased pain severity and pain interference associated with worse health utility and general health status.

Conclusion: There is a clear unmet need for treatments that can reduce pain and preserve health status in patients with HR+/HER2- ABC/MBC.