Symptom cluster and its relationship with life quality of patients with lung cancer

Abstract:

Objective：To explore the incidence and severity of fatigue，disturbed sleep，pain and distress and to examine whether the above four symptoms occur in symptom cluster during the trajectory of disease. Methods：This cross-sectional study design was as－sessed by M.D. Anderson symptom inventory and quality of life instruments for cancer patients-lung cancer. Three-hundred and eighty four individuals were involved in the survey. Results：There were significant inter-correlations among fatigue，disturbed sleep，pain and distress（r=0.474-0.716，P＜0.01）. About 9.1%（n=35） and 21.1%（n=81） patients reported co-occurrence of any two and any three symptoms of fatigue，disturbed sleep，pain and distress and 62.8%（n=241） patients reported co-occurrence of all four symptoms. Negative relationship was found between the top four symptoms and subscale/total scores of life quality. Conclusions：Fatigue，disturbed sleep，pain and distress are the most common and severe symptoms of patients with lung cancer，which exert negatively effects on life quality through symptom cluster.