JOURNAL ARTICLE
RESEARCH SUPPORT, N.I.H., EXTRAMURAL
RESEARCH SUPPORT, NON-U.S. GOV'T
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

The symptom experience of oncology outpatients has a different impact on quality-of-life outcomes.

The aims of this replication study were to determine if subgroups of oncology outpatients receiving active treatment could be identified based on their experience with the symptoms of fatigue, sleep disturbance, depression, and pain; whether patients in these subgroups differed on selected demographic, disease, and treatment characteristics; and if patients in these subgroups differed on functional status and quality of life (QOL). A convenience sample of 228 oncology outpatients was recruited from seven outpatient settings in Israel. Patients completed a demographic questionnaire, a Karnofsky Performance Status score, the Multidimensional Quality of Life Scale-Cancer, the Lee Fatigue Scale, the General Sleep Disturbance Scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, and a numeric rating scale of worst pain intensity. Cluster analysis was used to identify the patient subgroups based on their symptom experience. Four relatively distinct patient subgroups were identified based on their experiences with the above symptoms (i.e., low levels of all four symptoms (32.9%), low levels of pain and high levels of fatigue (18.0%), high levels of pain and moderate levels of fatigue (42.5%), and high levels of all four symptoms (6.6%). No differences were found among the four subgroups on any demographic, disease, or treatment characteristics. The subgroup of patients who reported high levels of all four symptoms reported the worst functional status and poorest QOL. In conclusion, differences in the symptom experience of oncology outpatients suggest that patients may harbor different phenotypic characteristics (e.g., environmental or physiologic) or genetic determinants for experiencing symptoms that are independent of demographic, disease, and treatment characteristics.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app