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Fatigue and functional outcomes in cancer rehabilitation

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Abstract

Purpose

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is one of the most common symptoms experienced by oncology patients, though its impact on functional outcomes during inpatient rehabilitation is relatively unknown. The purpose of this study is to determine whether CRF severity on admission is related to functional gains following standard rehabilitation care in an inpatient oncology rehabilitation population.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was conducted within an inpatient oncology unit at a long-term acute care hospital. Seventy-six patients admitted to the hospital between April and December 2015 with an oncology diagnosis, planned discharge, and completed standardized assessments of CRF and functional ability were included in this study. Patients received standard interdisciplinary rehabilitation services including physical and occupational therapy. CRF was assessed on admission using the Brief Fatigue Inventory, and functional abilities were assessed on admission and discharge using the basic mobility and daily activity domains of the Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care inpatient short forms (AM-PAC).

Results

Ninety-seven percent of patients reported CRF, and 57% reported severe CRF upon admission. Patients demonstrated on average a 30% and 14% reduction in functional impairment in basic mobility and daily activity respectively during their admission. There was no significant correlation found between CRF on admission and change in functional impairment.

Conclusion

This study contributes to existing literature in that it found patients who received inpatient rehabilitation services demonstrate significant improvement in their functional status despite reporting CRF upon admission to a long-term acute care hospital oncology unit.

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Data availability

Not applicable.

Code availability

IBM SPSS 24.0

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Dr. Lisa Wood, Ph.D., RN, FAAN and Prue Plummer, PhD, PT, BPhysio (Hons) for their guidance in the formation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care Cambridge, 1575 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Amanda Mack, Monica Arrigo, Twyla Fink, Karla Garrity & Lauren Kwasnowski

  2. MGH Institute of Health Professions, 36 1st Avenue, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA

    Amanda Mack, Monica Arrigo, David Cox, Lauren Kwasnowski & John Wong

  3. Salem State University, 352 Lafayette St, Salem, MA, 01970, USA

    Twyla Fink

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  1. Amanda Mack
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Correspondence to Amanda Mack.

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Ethics approval

This study granted the IRB approval by the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network Research Institute and performed in accordance with ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

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Not applicable; retrospective study.

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Not applicable.

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The authors state that this research did not receive external funding. 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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This study was conducted as part of the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network’s Clinical Scholars Program, under the guidance of Lynne Brady Wagner, MA, CCC-SLP.

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Mack, A., Arrigo, M., Fink, T. et al. Fatigue and functional outcomes in cancer rehabilitation . Support Care Cancer 29, 8069–8076 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06405-4

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