Symptom Clusters and Quality of Life in Patients With Lung Cancer Receiving Immunotherapy in China

Abstract

Objectives: Lung cancer patients undergoing immunotherapyexperience various symptoms that have long-term effects on their quality of life. However, which symptom clusters are expressed and affect patients’ quality of life remain significantly controversial. Therefore, we aimed to explore symptom clusters among lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy and identify the impact of these clusters on their quality of life. Data Sources: This was a cross-sectional study aimed at exploring the symptom experiences and quality of life of lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. The participants were invited to complete the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS) and Quality of Life Quality of Life Questionnaire—Lung Cancer 43 (QLQ-LC43). Principal component analysis, Spearman correlation analyses, and multiple linear regression were used to explore symptom clusters and identify their influence on quality of life. Conclusion: Data from 240 participants was obtained, and identified five symptom clusters: emotion-related, lung cancer-specific, perceptual, skin, and neural symptom clusters. Adjustment for covariates revealed that emotion-related, lung cancer-specific, perceptual symptom clusters were negative predictors of quality of life. The fitted model explained approximately 56% of the variance. Implications for Nursing Practice: This study demonstrated that lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy experienced symptoms that tended to occur in five clusters (i.e., emotion-related, lung cancer-specific, perceptual, skin, and neural symptoms). Developing interventions for emotion-related, lung cancer-specific, perceptual symptom clusters may effectively improve patients’ quality of life.