Positive Health Online

Abstract

BOOHER  and COLLEAGUES, (1)Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA; (2)Integrative Medicine Service, Department of Medicine, Bendheim Integrative Medicine Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 321 East 61st Street, New York, NY, 10065, USA; (3)Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA; (4)Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA; (5)Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA; (6)Integrative Medicine Service, Department of Medicine, Bendheim Integrative Medicine Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 321 East 61st Street, New York, NY, 10065, USA. liouk@mskcc.org .evaluated ethnic differences in treatment expectations about integrative pain treatment modalities among Hispanic and non-Hispanic cancer patients and survivors of cancer

Background

Individuals living with cancer and survivors of cancer who self-identify as Hispanic experience higher pain burden and greater barriers to pain management compared with their non-Hispanic counterparts. The Society for Integrative Oncology-ASCO guideline recommends acupuncture and massage for cancer pain management. However, Hispanic individuals' expectations about these modalities remain under-studied and highlight a potential barrier to treatment utilization in this population.

Methodology

We conducted a subgroup analysis of baseline data from two randomized clinical trials to evaluate ethnic differences in treatment expectations about integrative pain treatment modalities among Hispanic and non-Hispanic cancer patients and survivors of cancer. The Mao Expectancy of Treatment Effects (METE) instrument was used to measure treatment expectancy for electro-acupuncture, auricular acupuncture, and massage therapy.

Results

Results of this study demonstrated that Hispanic participants reported greater expectation of benefit from electroacupuncture, auricular acupuncture, and massage (all P < 0.01). After controlling for age, gender, race, and education, Hispanic ethnicity remained significantly associated with greater expectation of benefit from integrative therapies for pain (coef.=1.47, 95% CI, 0.67-2.27). Non-white race (coef.=1.04, 95% CI, 0.42-1.65), no college education (coef.=1.16, 95% CI, 0.59-1.74), and female gender (coef.=0.94, 95% CI, 0.38-1.50) were also associated with a greater expectation of benefit from integrative therapies. [coef. Is a common abbreviation for the word coefficient] Pain management should be informed by a shared decision-making approach that aligns treatment expectancy with treatment selections to optimize outcomes.

Conclusion

Compared with non-Hispanic participants, Hispanic individuals reported higher expectation of benefit from acupuncture and massage, highlighting the potential role for integrative therapies in addressing ethnic pain disparities. Trial Registration NCT02979574 NCT04095234. © 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business  Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

References

Booher A(1), Mao JJ(2), Muniz RC(3), Romero SAD(4), Li SQ(2), Lopez AM(5), Liou KT(6). Association between Hispanic Ethnicity and Greater Expectation of Benefit from Acupuncture or Massage for Pain in Cancer.  J Immigr Minor Health. ;26(5):953-957. doi: 10.1007/s10903-024-01611-8. Epub Jul 8 2024 .  Oct 2024.