• J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2024

    Randomized Controlled Trial

    A randomized controlled trial of betamethasone on fatigue in patients with advanced cancer.

    • Kikuko Miyazaki, Masayuki Ikenaga, Tosiya Sato, Kenji Ueshima, Shuichi Nawata, Takahiro Horimatsu, Eisaku Komori, Toshihiko Kirishima, Kunihiro Kawabata, Takashi Kawamura, Hiroi Kasai, Yoshimi Suzukamo, Keiichi Matsuzaki, Yoshihiro Kuwabara, Takeo Nakayama, and PASQol Study Group.
    • Department of Health Informatics (K.M., T.N.), Kyoto University School of Public Health, Kyoto, Japan. Electronic address: miy@plum.ocn.ne.jp.
    • J Pain Symptom Manage. 2024 May 1; 67 (5): 393401.e1393-401.e1.

    ContextFatigue is one of the most uncomfortable physical symptoms seen in patients with advanced cancer. Previous studies have reported on the efficacy of corticosteroids from Western countries.ObjectivesTo assess the effectiveness of 4mg betamethasone improving fatigue among Japanese patients with advanced cancer.MethodsA randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolled eligible patients with advanced cancer expected to survive 1-2 months, with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status of 2-3, and experiencing fatigue according to the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core-15-palliative criteria. Participants received twice-daily oral administration of 2 mg betamethasone (4 mg/d) or placebo for seven days, with fatigue assessed using EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL subscale and numerical rating scale (NRS) score (at baseline and day seven). The trial was registered under the University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN)000011913.ResultsAmong the 267 screened patients, 81 were eligible, of which 70 were evaluable (betamethasone, 33; placebo, 37). The mean difference in the EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL fatigue subscale was -8.2 (95% CIs: -22.3, 0.0; P = 0.178) and in a NRS for fatigue was -1.2 (95% CIs: -2.5, -0.01; P = 0.048), respectively. Emotional function, appetite loss, and global-health were slightly better in the betamethasone group than in the placebo group.ConclusionThe impact of betamethasone 4 mg/d on alleviating fatigue in patients with advanced cancer in the last weeks of life did not reach statistical significance in the EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL as the primary endpoint, however, it was significant in the NRS, the secondary endpoint.Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.