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
. 2019 Oct;27(10):3897-3904.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-019-04693-5. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Pruritus in patients with solid tumors: an overlooked supportive care need

Jaxon J Vallely  1 , Kathryn E Hudson  2 , Susan C Locke  3 , Steven P Wolf  4 , Gregory P Samsa  4 , Amy P Abernethy  3   5 , Thomas W LeBlanc  6   7
Affiliations

Pruritus in patients with solid tumors: an overlooked supportive care need

Jaxon J Vallely et al. Support Care Cancer. 2019 Oct.

Abstract

Purpose: Pruritus is a common symptom in cutaneous malignancies, but its impact on patients with solid tumors is unclear. We explored the impact and management of pruritus in patients with solid tumors, using patient-reported outcomes (PRO) data from a real-world registry.

Methods: From 2006 to 2011, patients seen in the Duke Cancer Institute reported their symptoms via the Patient Care Monitor v2.0, a validated PRO tool that includes a 0-10-point question about pruritus severity. From > 25,000 encounters, 203 patients reported severe pruritus (> 6/10) on at least one visit and 506 total visits were abstracted where patients reported either moderate or severe pruritus (> 3/10). From this cohort, we abstracted demographics, diagnosis, stage, cancer therapy, anti-pruritic therapy, and clinicians' responses.

Results: Mean age was 59.8 (SD 13.3), 134 (66%) were female, 125 (62%) were Caucasian, and 65 (32%) were African American. Breast cancer was the most common tumor (36.5%), followed by lung cancer (23.2%). Mean pruritus severity score was 6.8 (SD 1.8) for patients on chemotherapy, 6.9 (SD 1.8) for patients on targeted therapy alone or in combination, and 7.1(SD 1.8) for patients off treatment. Overall, 67% of patients reported at least two episodes of moderate-severe pruritus (mean # of visits 4.2 (SD 2.7)). Despite frequent report of severe and persistent pruritus, this was mentioned in just 28% of clinician notes and an intervention was recommended/prescribed in only 7% of visits.

Conclusions: Pruritus is an under-addressed symptom in patients with solid tumors. Additional research is needed to understand the burden of pruritus in affected populations.

Keywords: Patient experience research; Patient-reported outcomes; Pruritus; Supportive care; Symptoms.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Abernethy AP, Herndon JE, Wheeler JL, Day JM, Hood L, Patwardhan M, Shaw H, Lyerly HK (2009) Feasibility and acceptability to patients of a longitudinal system for evaluating cancer-related symptoms and quality of life: pilot study of an e/Tablet data-collection system in academic oncology. J Pain Symptom Manag 37:1027–1038 - DOI
    1. Abernethy AP, Ahmad A, Zafar SY, Wheeler JL, Reese JB, Lyerly HK (2010) Electronic patient-reported data capture as a foundation of rapid learning cancer care. Med Care 48:S32–S38 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abernethy AP, Zafar SY, Uronis H, Wheeler JL, Coan A, Rowe K, Shelby RA, Fowler R, Herndon JE (2010) Validation of the Patient Care Monitor (version 2.0): a review of system assessment instrument for cancer patients. J Pain Symptom Manag 40:545–558 - DOI
    1. Alshammary SA, Duraisamy BP, Alsuhail A (2016) Review of management of pruritus in palliative care. J Health Spec 4:17 - DOI
    1. Anand S (2013) Gabapentin for pruritus in palliative care. Am J Hosp Palliat Med 30:192–196 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources