Determinants of anticipatory nausea and anticipatory vomiting in adults receiving cancer chemotherapy

Abstract

There is a need for further empirical investigation of variables that may contribute to the occurrence of anticipatory nausea and/or anticipatory vomiting (AN/AV) in persons receiving cancer chemotherapy. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of AN/AV in adults receiving an initial course of cancer chemotherapy in an outpatient setting with the following set of variables: symptom distress, mood disturbance, stage of disease, sensitivity to conditioning cues, emetic potential of antineoplastic drugs, age, psychosocial stress, and ability to cope. Thirty-two percent of the sample developed anticipatory nausea. Multivariate statistics were used to examine the contribution of the variables to the prediction of AN/AV. Analysis of the data revealed that 53% of the variance accounted for was contributed by the following combination of variables: emetic potential of drug, level of symptom distress, mood disturbance, stress and ability to cope (p = .001). The total percentage of cases correctly classified was 88.3%. This combination of variables correctly classified 100% of patients who experienced anticipatory nausea (n = 15). Eighty-two percent of patients who did not experience anticipatory nausea and/or anticipatory vomiting (n = 28) were classified correctly.