Quality of life and pain in patients with recurrent breast and gynecologic cancer.

Pain is a central factor affecting quality of life for the cancer patient. This descriptive study was designed to explore the relationship between pain and several factors affecting quality of life. The factors explored included physical and social functioning, emotional health, and spiritual commitment in women with recurrent breast or gynecologic cancer. Pain frequency, amount, and interference with activities were found to correlate more strongly with objective measures of quality of life (i.e., physical and social functioning) than subjective measures (i.e., psychological or spiritual dimensions).