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. 2023 Feb 17;9(1):7.
doi: 10.1186/s40780-023-00275-0.

Fatigue in patients with cancer receiving outpatient chemotherapy: a prospective two-center study

Takuya Fujihara  1 , Motohiko Sano  2   3 , Yutaka Negoro  4 , Shinji Yamashita  4 , Hideya Kokubun  5 , Ryoichi Yano  6
Affiliations

Fatigue in patients with cancer receiving outpatient chemotherapy: a prospective two-center study

Takuya Fujihara et al. J Pharm Health Care Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is one of the most common symptoms in patients with cancer. However, CRF has not been sufficiently evaluated as it involves various factors. In this study, we evaluated fatigue in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy in an outpatient setting.

Methods: Patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy at the outpatient treatment center of Fukui University Hospital and Saitama Medical University Medical Center Outpatient Chemotherapy Center were included. The survey period was from March 2020 to June 2020. The frequency of occurrence, time, degree, and related factors were examined. All patients were asked to fill out the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System Revised Japanese version (ESAS-r-J) questionnaire, which is a self-administered rating scale, and patients with ESAS-r-J "Tiredness" scores of ≥ 3 were evaluated for factors related to tiredness, such as age, sex, weight, and laboratory parameters.

Results: A total of 608 patients were enrolled in this study. Fatigue after chemotherapy occurred in 71.0% of patients. ESAS-r-J "Tiredness" scores of ≥ 3 were observed in 20.4% of patients. The factors related to CRF were low hemoglobin level and high C-reactive protein level.

Conclusions: Twenty percent of patients receiving cancer chemotherapy on an outpatient basis had moderate or severe CRF. Patients with anemia and inflammation are at increased risk of developing fatigue after cancer chemotherapy.

Keywords: Cancer; Cancer-related fatigue; ESAS-r-J; Outpatient; Tiredness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A flow chart of the study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution of patients by “Tiredness” score. ESAS-r-J, Edmonton Symptom Assessment System Revised Japanese version
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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