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Clinically significant symptoms prevalence in breast and colon cancers and leukemia patients: a comparison analysis of patient-reported outcomes

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Abstract

Purpose

To assess the prevalence and severity of clinically significant symptoms (CSSs) for breast cancer, colon cancer, and leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Methods

A retrospective review of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System scores reported by patients from the database of our previous large-scale study, which was collected between May 2018 and January 2019. We described the prevalence of CSSs in proportion and severity in mean ± SD.

Results

Of 546 cancer patients, 209 were breast cancer, 159 were colon cancer, and 178 were leukemia. The majority of participants were females 345 (63.2%), and the mean age of the entire study sample was 49.4 ± 13.93. Diminished feeling of well-being was the most prevalent CSS across the three cancers, with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001). Fatigue (6.59 ± 2.07), pain (6.55 ± 2.01), and loss of appetite were the most distressing CSSs (6.49 ± 1.99) across the whole sample. Loss of appetite (6.34 ± 2.05) was the most distressing CSS in breast cancer, fatigue (6.97 ± 2.07) in leukemia, and pain (7.00 ± 2.11) in colon cancer. Statistically significant differences were found in the severity between the three cancer in pain (p < 0.001), fatigue (p = 0.010), nausea (p = 0.001), and diminished feeling of well-being (p = 0.033). Cancer type, sleeping hours, dependence on caregiver, female gender, level of education, and employment were significantly associated with higher odds of CSS severity.

Conclusion

Breast and colon cancer and leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy experience multiple distressing CSSs. Our study validates CSSs as a discrete set of distressing symptoms that may serve and guide quality of care assessment and cancer clinical research, particularly among patients undergoing chemotherapy.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center, King Fahad Medical City, P.O. Box. 59046, Riyadh, 11525, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Isamme AlFayyad & Mohamad Al-Tannir

  2. Pharmacy Administration, King Fahad Medical City, P.O. Box. 59046, Riyadh, 11525, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Amjad AlShammari

Authors
  1. Isamme AlFayyad
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  2. Mohamad Al-Tannir
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  3. Amjad AlShammari
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Isamme AlFayyad, Mohamad Al-Tannir, and Amjaad AlShammari. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Isamme AlFayyad, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Isamme AlFayyad.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The study was approved by the IRB of King Fahad Medical City. The identity of the participants was kept confidential.

Consent to participate

This study is a retrospective database review of our previous large-scale study. Informed consent for participation in this study was obtained from each patient before the conduct of our previous large-scale study.

Consent for publication

This study is a retrospective database review of our previous large-scale study. Informed consent was obtained from each participant for the use of their anonymized data for publication purposes before the conduct of our previous large-scale study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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AlFayyad, I., Al-Tannir, M. & AlShammari, A. Clinically significant symptoms prevalence in breast and colon cancers and leukemia patients: a comparison analysis of patient-reported outcomes. Support Care Cancer 30, 439–446 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06434-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06434-z

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