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The persistence of symptom burden: symptom experience and quality of life of cancer patients across one year

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to track the symptom experience in a sample of cancer patients, determine the persistence of cancer symptoms and symptom burden, and examine the relationship between symptoms and QOL over time.

Methods

Five hundred forty-two patients provided longitudinal data, completing surveys over a 12-month period. Patients had breast, colorectal, gynecologic, lung, or prostate cancer with stage 1, 2, or 3 disease. Surveys included the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General Scale and were administered every 3 months. Demographic and clinical information and comorbidities were collected from the tumor registry.

Results

The number and type of symptoms experienced by patients varied by cancer type, but about 90 % of patients reported one or more symptoms—with prostate cancer patients reporting fewer symptoms and colorectal patients, more symptoms. Prostate patients also had the lowest symptom burden at every time point. Overall, symptom burden decreased over time, as did the Physical subscale for the MSAS. Quality of life was stable over time, except for physical well-being, which improved. Quality of life was negatively correlated with symptom burden at every time point.

Conclusions

The differences in symptom experience by cancer type suggest that assessment and management of symptoms must be individually tailored or at least adjusted by cancer type. While symptom burden decreased over time, residual symptom burden was still noteworthy. As quality of life was persistently negatively correlated with symptom burden, the results suggest the need for comprehensive symptom assessment and management.

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Acknowledgments

This research project was funded by Barnes-Jewish Hospital which employs Dr. Deshields, Dr. Potter, and Ms. Olsen. The authors acknowledge the support of the Biostatistics Core of the Siteman Cancer Center, which is funded by the NCI Cancer Center Support Grant P30 CA091842. The authors have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review the data if requested.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Siteman Cancer Center, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, 4921 Parkview Place, MS: 90-35-703, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA

    Teresa L. Deshields

  2. Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Patricia Potter & Sarah Olsen

  3. Division of Biostatistics, Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA

    Jingxia Liu

Authors
  1. Teresa L. Deshields
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  2. Patricia Potter
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  3. Sarah Olsen
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  4. Jingxia Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Teresa L. Deshields.

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Deshields, T.L., Potter, P., Olsen, S. et al. The persistence of symptom burden: symptom experience and quality of life of cancer patients across one year. Support Care Cancer 22, 1089–1096 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-2049-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-2049-3

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