Symptom severity of patients with advanced cancer in palliative care unit: longitudinal assessments of symptoms improvement

• Published in: BMC palliative care 2016-03, Vol.15 (32), p.32-32, Article 32
• Main Authors: Tai, Shu-Yu, Lee, Chung-Yin, Wu, Chien-Yi, Hsieh, Hui-Ya, Huang, Joh-Jong, Huang, Chia-Tsuan, Chien, Chen-Yu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis; Anorexia - diagnosis; Anxiety - diagnosis; Cancer; Care and treatment; Complications and side effects; Constipation - diagnosis; Depression - diagnosis; Depression, Mental; Dyspnea - diagnosis; Female; Humans; Longitudinal method; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical records; Middle Aged; Neoplasms - therapy; Pain - diagnosis; Palliative Care; Palliative treatment; Risk factors; Severity of Illness Index; Symptom Assessment - standards; Taiwan
• ISSN: 1472-684X; 1472-684X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12904-016-0105-8

This study assessed the symptom severity of patients with advanced cancer in a palliative care unit and explored the factors associated with symptom improvement. This study was conducted in a palliative care unit in Taiwan between October 2004 and December 2009. Symptom intensity was measured by the "Symptom Reporting Form", and graded on a scale of 0 to 4 (0 = none, and 4 = extreme). These measures were assessed on the 1(st), 3(rd), 5(th), and 7(th) Day in the palliative care unit. The study data comprised routine clinical records and patients' demographic data. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to assess the symptom improvement, and investigate the factors associated with the symptom reporting form scores. Among the 824 recruited patients with advanced cancer, pain (78.4%), anorexia (64.4%) and constipation (63.5%) were the most common and severe symptom. After controlling for other factors in the multivariate GEE model, the day of palliative care administration was a significant factor associated with all of the scales, except Days 7 on the dyspnoea and oedema scales and Day 5 on the anxiety scale. In addition, patients aged ≥ 65 years exhibited significantly lower scores on the pain, sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety scales than did those aged