Fatigue, Quality of Life, and Mood States during Chemotherapy in Italian Cancer Patients

Abstract

Aims and background In cancer patients, fatigue interferes with the individual's functioning and quality of life (QoL). We investigated the association between fatigue and the main QoL dimensions and mood states as well as the main sociodemographic and clinical variables. Methods A total of 105 inpatients undergoing chemotherapy were administered the Revised Piper Fatigue Scale and the EORTC QLQ-C30 and POMS questionnaires, along with a form for collecting personal and clinical data. Results Compared with patients reporting lower fatigue levels, patients with higher levels showed worse functioning (P <0.001) in every QoL domain (i.e., physical, role, emotional, social, cognitive functioning, pain, and general health) as well as in the assessed mood states (depression-dejection, tension-anxiety, confusion-bewilderment). Moreover, both QoL and mood states in the subgroup reporting intermediate fatigue levels were worse than those of the subgroup with lower fatigue levels (P <0.02), except for emotional functioning, general health and QoL, and tension-anxiety. In addition, fatigue was significantly associated with gender, age, education, performance status, but not with marital status, survival rate of cancer type, and current chemotherapy cycle. Conclusions The associations observed between fatigue, the main QoL domains, and negative mood states call for further active interventions to prevent and reduce fatigue.

Assessment of Quality of Life in Cancer Patients

“…The important point is that disease associated with the β coefficient of 0.36 has more effect on mental health in comparison with other independent variables and clinical symptoms with 0.35 of impact coefficient has a direct effect on life quality. Physical health and mental health with 0.15 and 0.14 of β coefficient, respectively affected the life quality (Ghanbari et al, 2010;Annunziata et al, 2013). Study of Abedi et al (2012) showed that physical health with 0.224 β coefficients had the highest effective and environmental health with 0.242 β coefficients the lowest effect on the quality of life.…”

Quality of Life in Ovarian-Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy

“…Fatigue is associated with a reduction in QoL with worse functioning in all domains for cancer patients [29]. In a study of 109 older patients undergoing chemotherapy, fatigue and financial impact caused the most distress followed by anxiety and depression [30].…”

Patients’ perception of chemotherapy side effects: Expectations, doctor-patient communication and impact on quality of life - An Italian survey

“…These effects are due not only to the disease itself but also to therapies administered to treat it. Chemotherapy is one of the major therapeutic options for solid and haematological tumours and is often associated with unpleasant side effects such as nausea/vomiting (Hesketh, ; Janelsins et al., ; Warr, ), fatigue (Annunziata, Muzzatti, Mella, & Bidoli, ; Koornstra, Peters, Donofrio, van den Borne, & de Jong, ; Weis, ), loss of appetite (Boltong, Keast, & Aranda, ; Boltong et al., ; Dobrila‐Dintinjana et al., ), hair loss (Chon, Champion, Geddes, & Rashid, ; Lemieux, Maunsell, & Provencher, ; Paus, Haslam, Sharov, & Botchkarev, ), altered bowel habits (Andreyev et al., ; Gibson & Keefe, ; Touchefeu et al., ), pain (Fallon, ; Pachman, Barton, Watson, & Loprinzi, ; Park, ), and depression (Ho, Rohan, Parent, Tager, & McKinley, ; Hwang, Chang, & Park, ; Polat, Arpacı, Demir, Erdal, & Yalcin, ). Some of these effects are acute and more frequent on the days immediately following drug administration, but many of them persist long after completion of treatment.…”

“…Chemotherapy side effects (CSE) have a considerable impact on quality of life (QOL) (Annunziata et al, 2013;Domati et al, 2015;Hwang et al, 2013;Mannion, Gilmartin, Donnellan, Keane, & Waldron, 2014;Wintner et al, 2013) and can severely impair a patient's ability to manage daily activities and employment. Moreover, unsatisfactory control of chemotherapy toxicities affecting treatment effectiveness necessitates dose reduction and/or treatment deferral (Havrilesky, Reiner, Morrow, Watson, & Crawford, 2015).…”