Symptom Clusters’ Content, Stability and Correlation with the Quality of Life in a Heterogeneous Group of Cancer Patients: A Large-Scale Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Cancer-related symptoms can negatively affect the quality of life, hinder or delay treatment, and increase suffering. This study aimed to explore symptom clusters among Jordanian cancer patients. A longitudinal survey design was used. The sample consisted of 1280 cancer patients treated in three selected hospitals. Two-thirds of the participants were female (63.5%) with a mean age of 52.7 SD 13.8 years and 40.3% had breast cancer. Five clusters were identified, the first was the psychological cluster of eight symptoms; the second was the treatment side-effects cluster consisting of ten symptoms; the third was the nausea and vomiting cluster comprising four symptoms; the fourth was the pain cluster comprising four symptoms; and last was the fatigue cluster, with three symptoms. Cancer patients through the journey of cancer treatment have several symptoms that tend to occur in five clusters which are negatively correlated with their quality of life.

Identifying Symptom Clusters in Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy using Symptom Occurrence and Distress Dimensions

“…In addition, a recent literature review on symptom clusters reported the most common ones as the psychological, gastrointestinal, and nutritional clusters (Harris et al, 2021), which partly resembles our own findings; we also identified four clusters, and the exact content within each cluster is different (Harris et al, 2021). Other studies reported that certain clusters remain stable over time (Al Qadire et al, 2020; Molassiotis et al, 2010; Skerman et al, 2012). The time aspect and stability of the identified symptom clusters were not considered in our study and therefore need to be investigated further, combined with the occurrence and distress dimensions in a similar heterogeneous cancer sample.…”

“…Based on our current findings, there are common symptom clusters among patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy. The stability of symptom clusters across dimensions has been tested and confirmed in patients with different types of cancer such as lung cancer (Russell et al, 2019), breast cancer (Sullivan, Leutwyler, Dunn, Cooper, et al, 2018), and in a heterogeneous group of cancer patients (Al Qadire et al, 2020) receiving chemotherapy. In the current study, the symptom clusters identified were also relatively stable across the dimensions of occurrence and distress, regardless of cancer diagnosis.…”

Changes in Patient-Reported Health Status in Advanced Cancer Patients from a Symptom Management Clinic: A Longitudinal Study Conducted in China

“…PRO that includes health status is also viewed as a crucial indicator of treatment effectiveness in clinical trials and is an essential criterion for drug approval, as required by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 2006 [12]. However, both physical and psychosocial symptoms can adversely affect QoL and daily functions [13]. Research shows that improvement in the QoL of patients is of great significance for their anticancer treatments, long-term rehabilitation, and survival.…”

A Study of Self-Care Practice in Routine Radiotherapy Care: Identifying Differences Between Practitioners and Non-Practitioners in Sociodemographic, Clinical, Functional, and Quality-of-Life-Related Characteristics

“…Regarding the everyday life challenges experienced by people undergoing cancer therapy, all cancer therapies can cause burdensome side effects, and patients experience several symptoms, which often occur in clusters and negatively affect their QoL. 8 , 9 QoL often varies depending on health status and symptom experience; some researchers thus define aspects of QoL that are related to health as “health-related QoL.” 17 Compared to the frequently studied chemotherapy-induced side effects, 1 fewer studies have looked at the patient-reported side effects commonly experienced during radiotherapy. 4 , 6 Healthcare practitioners often underestimate symptom occurrence and symptom burden during radiotherapy.…”

“…People undergoing cancer therapy face many challenges in everyday life that decrease their Quality of Life (QoL), for example, the burden of cancer-therapy-induced side effects. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Each individual has his/her own way of dealing with these challenges, often by using non-pharmacological or self-care management strategies. 7 Effective pharmacology medical therapies to reduce some of the side effects exist but are often costly 12 and may produce drug interactions and additional side effects.…”