Evaluating Symptom Distress in Cancer Patients

BACKGROUND: Distress in cancer patients negatively affects emotions and coping abilities and can reduce treatment adherence, quality of life, and survival rates. The prevalence of distress in cancer patients has been reported at 35.1 percent and 37.8 percent, but is frequently undiagnosed. Previous studies have produced conflicting results regarding reported symptoms.This study aims to help health care providers identify symptoms correlated with distress to improve recognition and treatment.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed via medical record review of 40 adult cancer patients at the Avera Cancer Institute. Responses were compared using Pearson's chi-square test and the t-test.

RESULTS: The average age of participants was 56.8 ± 12.0, and 65 percent had breast cancer. The mean overall score for distress was 4.6 ± 2.7 points on a 0-10 scale (95 percent CI 3.71 - 5.45). Twenty-four patients (60 percent) reported clinically significant distress. Females were more likely to report sadness. Specific symptoms with a statistically significant association with a higher overall distress included: fears, depression, sleep, worry, fatigue, nervousness, eating, and loss of interest in normal activities.

CONCLUSIONS: Although our sample size was small and homogeneous, the results demonstrated statistically significant associations between overall distress and the symptoms of fears, depression, sleep, worry, fatigue, nervousness, eating, and loss of interest in normal activities. These findings can increase awareness of symptoms associated with distress and allow clinicians to recommend specific interventions. Though many oncology clinics screen for distress, distress remains an important factor affecting quality of life and warrants further investigation.