A cross-sectional survey of pain catastrophising and acupuncture use among breast cancer survivors

Introduction Treatment-related joint painaffects almost half of all women with breast cancer using aromatase inhibitorsand is a major reason for terminating treatment. Although acupunctureis becoming an increasingly popular, evidence-based option for treating pain, little is known about the potential influence of psychological factors on acupunctureuse. Objective We aimed to evaluate the association between pain catastrophisingand use of acupuncturein breast cancer survivors experiencing arthralgia. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey of arthralgic breast cancer patients. Patients were asked if they had used acupuncturesince their cancer diagnosis. The Pain CatastrophisingScale (PCS) was used to measure negative coping styles related to the experience of pain. We performed multiple logistic regression analysis to evaluate the relationship between pain catastrophisingand acupunctureuse, adjusting for covariates. Results Of the 424 participants, 69 (16%) reported use of acupuncturesince their breast cancer diagnosis. In multivariate analyses, compared to those in the lowest PCS score tertile, patients with the highest PCS scores were more likely to have used acupuncture(p=0.03). In particular, patients with high levels of rumination (p=0.005) and magnification (p=0.008) were more likely to have used acupuncture. Helplessness was not associated with acupunctureuse (p=0.23). Conclusions High levels of pain catastrophising, and specifically the processes of rumination and magnification, were associated with greater acupunctureuse. We believe this could have important implications for understanding which population is more likely to seek acupuncturetreatment and how this alternative therapy could be better targeted to these patients.