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. 2018 Dec;140(3):485-496.
doi: 10.1007/s11060-018-03015-9. Epub 2018 Oct 30.

Prevalence of symptoms in glioma patients throughout the disease trajectory: a systematic review

Margriet IJzerman-Korevaar  1 , Tom J Snijders  2 , Alexander de Graeff  3 , Saskia C C M Teunissen  4 , Filip Y F de Vos  3
Affiliations

Prevalence of symptoms in glioma patients throughout the disease trajectory: a systematic review

Margriet IJzerman-Korevaar et al. J Neurooncol. 2018 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Glioma patients suffer from a wide range of symptoms which influence quality of life negatively. The aim of this review is to give an overview of symptoms most prevalent in glioma patients throughout the total disease trajectory, to be used as a basis for the development of a specific glioma Patient Reported Outcome Measure (PROM) for early assessment and monitoring of symptoms in glioma patients.

Methods: A systematic review focused on symptom prevalence in glioma patients in different phases of disease and treatment was performed in MEDLINE, CINAHL and EMBASE according to PRISMA recommendations. We calculated weighted means for prevalence rates per symptom.

Results: The search identified 2.074 unique papers, of which 32 were included in this review. In total 25 symptoms were identified. The ten most prevalent symptoms were: seizures (37%), cognitive deficits (36%), drowsiness (35%), dysphagia (30%), headache (27%), confusion (27%), aphasia (24%), motor deficits (21%), fatigue (20%) and dyspnea (20%).

Conclusions: Eight out of ten of the most prevalent symptoms in glioma patients are related to the central nervous system and therefore specific for glioma. Our findings emphasize the importance of tailored symptom care for glioma patients and may aid in the development of specific PROMs for glioma patients in different phases of the disease.

Keywords: Adverse events; Glioblastoma; Glioma; PROM; Patient reported outcomes; Symptoms; Toxicity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Selection of papers
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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