Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Jun;32(6):312-7.
doi: 10.1159/000215943. Epub 2009 May 12.

Fatigue in cancer survivors--prevalence and correlates

Susanne Kuhnt  1 , Jochen Ernst, Susanne Singer, Jens Ulrich Rüffer, Rolf-Dieter Kortmann, Jens-Uwe Stolzenburg, Reinhold Schwarz
Affiliations

Fatigue in cancer survivors--prevalence and correlates

Susanne Kuhnt et al. Onkologie. 2009 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and influencing factors of fatigue in cancer survivors.

Patients and methods: 646 cancer survivors completed the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20), in addition to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Quality Of Life questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30 (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30), the subscale 'social support' of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale (FACT), the Perceived Adjustment to Chronic Illness Scale (PACIS), and a questionnaire containing items on demographic and clinical data.

Results: 36% of cancer survivors suffer from moderate, 12% from severe fatigue. Fatigue was significantly associated with depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, adjustment to the illness, pain, dyspnoea, age, lacking social support, and sex. Other socio-demographic, cancer-related, and treatment-related factors had no influence on fatigue.

Conclusion: Fatigue in cancer survivors is strongly linked to physical and psychological aspects.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in