• Ayelet Prigozin, Beatrice Uziely, and Catherine F Musgrave.
• Meuhedet Sick Fund and School of Nursing, Hadassah Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. prigozin4@013.net
• Oncol Nurs Forum. 2010 Nov 1;37(6):E411-8.

Purpose/ObjectivesTo examine symptom severity's relationship to symptom interference, education, age, marital status, and type of chemotherapy treatment in Israeli women with stage I or II breast cancer.DesignCross-sectional, descriptive, correlational design.SettingHadassah University Hospital's oncology daytime care unit in Israel.Sample51 women with stage I or II breast cancer who were receiving an adjuvant chemotherapy protocol that included doxorubicin.MethodsWomen receiving adjuvant chemotherapy were given the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI), a modified version of the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial Hot Flashes Subscale (BCPT-HFS), and a demographic and treatment questionnaire to assess their symptoms toward the end of their chemotherapy treatment.Main Research VariablesSymptom severity, symptom interference, education, age, marital status, and type of chemotherapy treatment.FindingsThe most frequent and severe symptoms were fatigue, sleep disturbance, and drowsiness. The MDASI symptom severity total scores were positively correlated with total scores of interference with activities of daily life, with most individual symptoms being significantly related to the total interference scores. The strongest relationships were found with fatigue, distress, and sadness. Education was inversely related to the MDASI general symptom severity total scores; age was inversely related to the BCPT-HFS total scores. Patients who received treatment with doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide or doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, plus fluorouracil had greater symptom severity than those who received doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide followed by paclitaxel and had their symptoms evaluated after receiving paclitaxel.ConclusionsIncreased symptom severity disrupts daily function and life in women with breast cancer.Implications For NursingEvidence-based symptom profiles for different chemotherapy protocols are needed.

25 keywords...

hide…