Pain and its interference with daily living in relation to cancer - a comparative population-based study of 16,053 cancer survivors and 106,345 people without cancer

Sep 24, 2026

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Pain is a common, debilitating, and feared symptom, including among cancer survivors, yet large-scale population evidence on pain and its impact remains limited. The study quantifies pain prevalence in community-dwelling people with and without cancer and evaluates associations with physical functioning, psychological distress, and quality of life. Using Australian cohort questionnaire data linked to cancer registry records, modified Poisson regression estimates prevalence ratios for bodily pain and high-impact pain across 13 cancer types and overall.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Methods

Results

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Keywords

Joshy et al. BMC Cancer (2023) 23:774 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-023-11214-5](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-023-11214-5) BMC Cancer RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Pain and its interference with daily living in relation to cancer: a comparative population-based study of 16,053 cancer survivors and 106,345 people without cancer Grace Joshy1* , Saman Khalatbari‑Soltani2, Kay Soga1, Phyllis Butow3, Rebekah Laidsaar‑Powell3, Bogda Koczwara4,5, Nicole M. Rankin2,6, Sinan Brown 1, Marianne Weber7, Carolyn Mazariego8, Paul Grogan7, John Stubbs9, Stefan Thottunkal1, Karen Canfell7, Fiona M. Blyth2 and Emily Banks1 Abstract Background Pain is a common, debilitating, and feared symptom, including among cancer survivors. However, large‑scale population‑based evidence on pain and its impact in cancer survivors is limited. We quantified the preva‑ lence of pain in community‑dwelling people with and without cancer, and its relation to physical functioning, psy‑ chological distress, and quality of life (QoL) . Methods Questionnaire data from participants in the 45 and Up Study (Wave 2, n= 122,398, 2012–2015, mean age = 60.8 years), an Australian population‑based cohort study, were linked to cancer registration data to ascertain prior cancer diagnoses. Modified Poisson regression estimated age‑ and sex‑adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs) for bod‑ ily pain and pain sufficient to interfere with daily activities (high‑impact pain) in people with versus without cancer, for 13 cancer types, overall and according to clinical, personal, and health characteristics. The relation of high‑impact pain to physical and mental health outcomes was quantified in people with and without cancer. Results Overall, 34 . 9%(5,436/15,570) of cancer survivors and 31. 3%(32,471/103,604) of participants without can‑ cer reported bodily pain (PR = 1.07 [95% CI = 1 .05–1. 10]), and 15. 9%(2,468/15,550) versus 13. 1%(13,573/103,623), respectively, reported high‑impact pain (PR = 1.13 [1 .09–1. 18]) . Pain was greater with more recent cancer diagnosis, more advanced disease, and recent cancer treatment. High‑impact pain varied by cancer type; compared to cancer‑ free participants, PRs were: 2.23 (1 .71–2. 90) for multiple myeloma; 1.87 (1 .53–2. 29) for lung cancer; 1.06 (0 .98–1. 16) for breast cancer; 1.05 (0 .94–1. 17) for colorectal cancer; 1.04 (0 .96–1. 13) for prostate cancer; and 1.02 (0 .92–1. 12) for melanoma. Regardless of cancer diagnosis, high‑impact pain was strongly related to impaired physical function‑ ing, psychological distress, and reduced QoL. Conclusions Pain is common, interfering with daily life in around one‑in‑eight older community‑dwelling partici‑ pants. Pain was elevated overall in cancer survivors, particularly for certain cancer types, around diagnosis and treat‑ ment, and with advanced disease. However, pain was comparable to population levels for many common cancers, including breast, prostate and colorectal cancer, and melanoma. *Correspondence: Grace Joshy [Grace.Joshy@anu.edu.au](Grace.Joshy@anu.edu.au) Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativeco

FAQs

What does the study measure about pain in cancer survivors?

It measures the prevalence of bodily pain and pain that significantly interferes with daily activities (high-impact pain), and evaluates how these relate to physical functioning, psychological distress, and quality of life.

How were participants selected and how was cancer status determined?

Questionnaire data from the 45 and Up Study (Wave 2) were linked to Australian cancer registration records to identify prior cancer diagnoses and compare people with and without cancer.

What did the results show about high-impact pain across cancer types?

High-impact pain varied by cancer type and was generally higher in people with cancer than in those without cancer, with larger relative increases for some cancers such as multiple myeloma and lung cancer.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by Đào