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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Pain characteristics of adult hematological cancer patients at an outpatient clinic in Nigeria: A cross-sectional study

Ogochukwu Izuegbuna1* ,  Oyewale Saburi2 ,  Chijioke Adindu2 ,  Tiwalade Woods-Ali3 ,  Saliu Oguntola4 ,  Israel Kolawole3
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1 Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Oyo State , Nigeria
2 Department of Surgery, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State , Nigeria
3 Department of Anesthesia, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State , Nigeria
4 Department of Surgery, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Oyo State , Nigeria
CP, 026260041 https://doi.org/10.36922/CP026260041
Received: 28 June 2026 | Revised: 26 August 2026 | Accepted: 10 September 2026 | Published online: 23 September 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Pain is a very common complaint among hematological cancer patients. There has yet to be a study on the portrayal of pain experiences among hematological cancer patients in Nigeria. This study primarily aims to appraise the clinical characteristics of pain issues in Nigerian hematological cancer patients. The 36 hematological cancer patients from the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital were divided into myeloma and non-myeloma groups. Their socio-demographics and clinical attributes were recorded. The PainDETECT Questionnaire, numeric pain rating scale, and Pain Management Index (PMI) were used to evaluate their pain levels. Approximately 67% of study participants complained of pain at presentation, and 92% reported it as their worst in the past four weeks. The mean participant age was 58 years. Multiple myeloma was significantly associated with age (p = 0.035), performance status (p = 0.044), pain at presentation (p = 0.047), worst pain in four weeks (p = 0.013), and neuropathic pain (p < 0.001). Due to the small sample size (n = 36), these associations are exploratory and hypothesis-generating. The percentage of patients receiving inadequate pain therapy (PMI < 0) was 22.2%. This research shows the characteristics of pain in hematological cancer patients in Nigeria. The findings highlight the unevenly higher frequency of neuropathic pain in multiple myeloma compared to other hematological cancers. In addition, the study exposed inadequate pain management.

Keywords
Hematological cancer
Multiple myeloma
Cancer pain
Neuropathic pain
Pain management index
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
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Cancer Plus, Electronic ISSN: 2661-3840 Print ISSN: 2661-3832, Published by AccScience Publishing
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