By Jill Stein

SAN ANTONIO, (Reuters Health) - Joint pain is more common and more severe in women with breast cancer than age-matched women without breast cancer, researchers reported at the 2008 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The extent and impact of joint pain as a result of treatment for breast cancer should not be underestimated, Dr. Deborah Fenlon, with the University of Southampton, UK, noted, since joint pain may disrupt patients' lives for years after treatment has stopped.

Fenlon and colleagues analyzed responses to questionnaires completed by 247 women with breast cancer following treatment and 272 women without breast cancer having routine mammograms. The average time since diagnosis in the breast cancer group was 36 months.

"Cancer detection and treatment are improving, and presently almost two thirds of newly diagnosed patients are likely to survive for at least 20 years," said Fenlon. As a result, "more women are living with the long-term sequelae of breast cancer treatment."

While joint and muscle aches, pains and stiffness are among the more common complaints in women treated for breast cancer, the present study is the first to compare the prevalence and patterns of these symptoms to those in women of a similar age without cancer, she noted.

Overall, 62 percent of breast cancer patients complained of pain on the day they were questioned versus 49 percent of women without cancer. "Current pain" was significantly worse in the breast cancer group than in the control group.

In addition, 41 percent of breast cancer patients reported pain in their hands and 21 percent reported pain in their upper back over the last 7 days versus 31 percent and 11 percent, respectively, of patients without cancer.

Results also showed that pain in the hands and upper back significantly affected women's activities in the last year. Although pain in the feet was not reported as more common in breast cancer patients, it was more likely to affect activity in the last 12 months.

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