Symptoms and problems in a nationally representative sample of advanced cancer patients

Abstract

Little is known about the need for palliative care among advanced cancer patients who are not in specialist palliative care. The purpose was to identify prevalence and predictors of symptoms and problems in a nationally representative sample of Danish advanced cancer patients. Patients with cancer stage 3 or 4 from 54 hospital departments (n = 1630) received the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire. Mean scores were calculated according to the scoring manual and in addition a 'symptom/problem' and a 'severe symptom/problem' was defined and calculated. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify predictors. In total, 977 (60%) patients participated. The most frequent symptoms/problems were fatigue (57%; severe 22%) followed by reduced role function, insomnia and pain. Age, cancer stage, primary tumour, type of department, marital status and whether the patient had recently been hospitalized or not were associated with several symptoms and problems. This is probably the first nationally representative study of its kind. It shows that advanced cancer patients in Denmark have symptoms and problems that deserve attention and that some patient groups are especially at risk.

Spinal neuronal correlates of tapentadol analgesia in cancer pain: A back‐translational approach

“…The number of people living with cancer has increased over the last decade (Office for National Statistics, 2011) leading to new challenges in dealing with the secondary complications of cancer survivors including pain and depression (Velikova et al, 2004;Barsevick et al, 2006;Stromgren et al, 2006;Johnsen et al, 2009). These patients often experience moderate to severe pain that compromises quality of life (Svendsen et al, 2005;Coleman, 2006;Stromgren et al, 2006).…”

Health-related quality of life among patients with advanced cancer: an integrative review

“…A study with 977 patients with advanced cancer identified that, among physical symptoms, there was a fatigue incidence of 57% reported by patients who were not receiving palliative care, with negative impact on QoL (43) . The impact of fatigue in patients with cancer has been evaluated through specific measurement instruments and has demonstrated a strong association between this symptom and the HRQoL (25,29) .…”

Change in health-related quality of life over 1 month in cancer patients with high initial levels of symptoms and problems

“…The inclusion of patients has been described previously [4,5]. To achieve a random and representative sample, we included patients from three out of 14 hospital regions across Denmark.…”