Unaided use of pain descriptors by patients with cancer pain

A large sample of cancer patients in pain were instructed to describe their pain using their own words. Data were collected from patients representing several primary sites. A total of 129 distinct words were used by patients to describe their pain, with each patient using an average of 1.8 words. Ten words accounted for 67% of total word usage. Grouping words by response dimension revealed a predominant use of sensory descriptors, with the majority of these comprising the category "dullness." Patients divided by high and low self-reported worst pain differed significantly across several sensory categories and in the use of evaluative words. Comparisons made between patients grouped by primary site were significant only for the use of dullness adjectives. Patients with ovarian cancer used the greatest number of dullness words. No differences were found in word usage for patients with varying pain etiologies. The results point to the need to use word descriptor lists routinely in clinical and research settings. They also suggest that cancer patients' self-reported pain intensity can be inferred from word descriptors.