Symptom clusters and impact on quality of life in esophageal cancer patients

Health and Quality of Life Outcomes

Research

Yuxia Liu¹  Yanli Wang¹  Sihan Li¹  Zhongfei Xie¹  Zhijun Liu¹  Jianing Wang¹ 

[1] Department of Radiation Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China;

关键词: Esophageal cancer;    Symptoms clusters;    Social support;    Quality of life;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12955-022-02084-9

 received in 2022-04-16, accepted in 2022-12-16,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundEsophageal cancer patients can experience co-occurring, related symptoms labeled symptom clusters. This study aimed to identify symptom clusters and explore which SCs independently affect the quality of life (QoL) among esophageal cancer patients.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was performed in Shenyang, China, from February 2021 to February 2022. Finally, 118 esophageal cancer patients effectively completed the survey. Questionnaires’ information included the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G), the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory Gastrointestinal Cancer Module (MDASI-GI), the Multidimensions Scale of Perceived Social Support, and demographic and clinical characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis with principal axis factoring was used to identify symptom clusters, and multiple regression analysis was employed to analyze the influencing factors of QoL.ResultsThe mean score of FACT-G was 69.88 (SD = 17.85) among 118 esophageal cancer patients. Four symptom clusters were identified: psychological-somatic, dysphagia, fatigue-pain, and gastrointestinal symptom clusters. Results of regression analysis indicated a significant impact on QoL for chemotherapy (β = 0.140, P < 0.045), psychological-somatic symptom cluster (β = − 0.329, P = 0.013), and social support (β = 0.409, P < 0.001) after adjusting demographic and clinical characteristics. The linear combination explained 47.8% of the variance in QoL.ConclusionsThere is a critical need to emphasize the importance of psychological-somatic symptoms clusters management programs and increasing social support to improve QoL in esophageal cancer patients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022