Little is known about the cancer related fatigue (CRF) along cancer course and risk factors that could predict CRF development and persistence in breast cancer (BC) survivors. This prospective study detected incidence, timing of onset, duration of CRF, impact on QoL and psychological distress. Seventy-eight early BC patients, undergoing chemotherapy (CT) followed or not by hormonal therapy were assessed for QoL and psychological distress by EORTC QLQC30 and HADs questionnaires. Fatigue was investigated with mix methods, structured interview and psychometric measures. A qualitative analysis was added to assess the behavioral pattern of CRF. Low fatigue levels were identified after surgery (9%), increasing during (49%) and at the end of CT (47%), maintaining after 1 year (31%) and declining up to ten years of follow-up. Prevalence of CRF was higher at the end of CT and lower at follow-up. At the end and after 1 and 2 years from CT, persistence of CRF was associated to anxiety in 20%, 11% and 5% and to depression in 15%, 10% and 5% respectively. A relationship between CRF and psychological distress was observed; patients presenting depression and anxiety before CT were at higher risk for fatigue onset at a later period. A relationship between fatigue and QoL was noted at the end of CT. Our study shows the fatigue timely trend in early BC patients from surgery, CT and follow-up. Identification of biological, psychological, social predictor factors related to fatigue could be helpful for early interventions in patients at higher risk of developing fatigue.
Aim: To investigate sarcoma patients’ perception of quality of life and psychosocial distress across the different disease’s stages. Patients & methods: Total 329 sarcoma patients were monitored from diagnosis up to a maximum of six consecutive follow-up visits. Results: Functional status worsened over time with the lowest value after surgery and a full recovery not earlier than the second follow-up visit. Married and single patients exhibited similar quality of life pattern. High levels of psychological distress were observed from diagnosis to active treatment periods with a progressive improvement during follow-up. Psychological distress pattern over time varied by marital status and age. Conclusion: Our study suggests the importance of integrating psychosocial care to medical therapy across the entire sarcoma journey.
Our retrospective analysis on the rehabilitation service utilization in a large cohort of BT patients shows that a limited number of patients received rehabilitation interventions during the first year after diagnosis. Nevertheless, the rehabilitation needs in BT patients are largely unmet and the lack of defined physical and cognitive rehabilitation strategies may negatively affect the functional independence and the short- and long-term quality of life.
The aim of this study was to investigate symptoms, their variation over time and their relationship with quality of life (QoL)/psychological distress in sarcoma patients, as few data regarding QoL and psychological distress in this set of patients are currently available. A total of 188 sarcoma patients from an Italian referral center were involved. Symptoms and financial difficulties were evaluated with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire from the first treatment and over the follow-up period, up to 6 years. The authors found that patients with sarcoma experience several symptoms, especially fatigue and pain, which may dramatically worsen QoL and psychological distress. In conclusion, patients with sarcoma often experience fatigue, pain and financial difficulties, which negatively impacts QoL and psychological distress. To ameliorate overall QoL, proper control of symptoms is necessary.
While the emotional response of healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic has been extensively investigated in countries in the Far-East, little is known about the psychological impact and the associated emotional distress of healthcare providers in Italy, especially with regard to different regions. The aim of the “VIRARE” survey, which was addressed to all the healthcare providers in the Lazio region (central Italy) and, in particular, to those working in the oncology field, is to analyze their opinion on the impact and management of the pandemic, to better understand the level of their psychological distress. A global good psychological response of healthcare providers to the pandemic has emerged, independently from their different occupations in the oncology field. Healthcare providers show a high degree of resilience, identifying the major causes of distress the difficulty of the management of this situation, the obstacles in their working activity and expressing a high degree of dissatisfaction with how Italian institutions handled this situation. This survey also provides a direct comparison between COVID-19-infected (or directly in contact with COVID-19-infected patients) and uninfected healthcare providers, identifying the sub-category of infected professionals that reported signs of depression as particularly vulnerable.
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