• J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2017

    Multicenter Study

    Stability and priority of symptoms and symptom clusters among allogeneic HSCT patients within a 5-year longitudinal study.

    • Peter Esser, Katharina Kuba, Angela Scherwath, Christoffer Johansen, Anke Schwinn, Lena Schirmer, Frank Schulz-Kindermann, Margitta Kruse, Uwe Koch, Axel Rolf Zander, Nicolaus Kröger, Heide Götze, and Anja Mehnert.
    • Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Medical Center Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: peter.esser@medizin.uni-leipzig.de.
    • J Pain Symptom Manage. 2017 Oct 1; 54 (4): 493-500.

    ContextDue to toxicity and invasiveness, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation causes severe and longstanding symptom burden. Longitudinal studies on symptoms and symptom clusters (SC) would be helpful to optimize symptom control but are rare to date.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to investigate stability of symptoms, extract time stable SC, and determine their priority in symptom management.MethodsIn this multicenter study, patients diagnosed with hematologic cancer were assessed before conditioning (T0) and three months (T1), one year (T2), and five years (T3) after transplantation. Symptoms were assessed with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ-C30). Symptoms were stable when rated as present at three consecutive time points. Applying factor analysis, stable SC were composed of symptoms loading on the same factor across all time points. Priority in symptom management was derived from a combination of severity and predictive power for quality of life (QoL).ResultsTwo hundred thirty-nine patients participated at T0, 150 (63%) at T1, 102 (43%) at T2, and 45 (19%) at T3. We identified three stable SC, composed of rest-tired-weak-dyspnea-loss of appetite (exhausted), tense-worried-irritable-depressed (affective), and nausea-vomiting (gastrointestinal). Fatigue was most persistent and also most severe and predictive for QoL, both as symptom and in cluster (exhausted).ConclusionGiven its high stability, severity, and impact on QoL, fatigue should have priority in symptom management. The treatment of this symptom could be enhanced by also incorporating interventions addressing dyspnea and loss of appetite.Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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