Minority cancer patients get shorted.

• Position: Pain Medication - Brief article

More than one-third of patients with invasive cancer are undertreated for pain, with minorities twice as likely not to receive analgesics, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. The study is the largest prospective evaluation of cancer pain and related symptoms ever conducted in an outpatient setting.

"We've known for years that the undertreatment of pain is a significant public health problem in the cancer treatment process, and that minorities are at greatest risk for not receiving appropriate pain care," says Charles Cleeland, professor and chair of the Department of Symptom Research and the study's senior author. "This new research tells us that our progress has been limited, with only a 10% overall reduction in inadequacy of pain management from our findings almost two decades ago."

"Pain is one of the most feared symptoms of cancer and it has tremendous impact on the quality of life and function of our patients," stresses Michael Fisch, associate professor and chair of the Department of General...