The prescription of opioid analgesics to terminal cancer patients: impact of physicians' general attitudes and contextual factors.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine factors associated with the prescription of opioid analgesics to terminal cancer patients, including physicians' general attitudes toward morphine and contextual factors.

METHODS

A survey was conducted among a sample of French general practitioners (GPs) and oncologists. Respondents were asked to describe the last three terminally ill patients they had followed up to death.

RESULTS

Overall, 526 GPs and oncologists (global response rate: 57%) described 1,082 cancer patients, among whom 85.4% received opioid analgesics. Among other significant predictors (patient age, cancer type, family assistance), this prescription was less frequent for female patients followed by male physicians (OR = 0.53), and more frequent for patients followed by physicians trained in palliative care (OR = 2.70). On the other hand, physicians' attitudes toward morphine were not associated with prescription of morphine and other opioid analgesics.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

Although nonprescription of opioid analgesics is only a crude proxy measure for undertreatment of cancer pain, our findings suggest the need to develop training in palliative care in order to standardize practices among GPs and specialists. Our results also highlight the necessity to study pain assessment as an interaction between the physician and the patient, and to consider patients' and physicians' respective genders as a key variable within this interaction.