RESUMEN
Background: Fatigue is one of the most common side effects of chemotherapy with a prevalence of 90% in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemeherapy. Althogh some reasons are suggested for it, the relationship between chemotherapy regimen and fatigue severity has not yet been thoroughly examined
Purpose: This correlational descriptive study was conducted to determine the relationship between chemotherapy regimen and fatigue severity in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy in Shohada and Imam Hossein Hospitals, affiliated to Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences
Method: Subjects included patients in stages I, II, and III of breast cancer with mean age of 42.3 +/- 9.19. Data were collected by a 3-part questionnaire [1.demographic characteristics; 2. disease and treatment characteristics and 3. fatigue rating scale]. Fatigue was measured by the fatigue scale over 3 times [before chemotherapy, and 48 hrs. after the first and second chemotherapy courses]. Data wer analyzed by SPSS software
Findings: Results indicated that the mean difference of fatigue was not significant before chemotherapy in two regimens [AC and CAF], but the mean difference of fatigue 48hrs, after the first and scecond chemothorapy courses was significant in the two regimens [AC: 28.77 +/- 1.1777 and CAF: 22.4 +/- 1.2]. In fact, fatigue severity in AC regimen is more than CAF regimen. In addition, there was a significant relationship between fatigue and menopause as well as BMI categories
Conclusion fatigue assessment is an important aspect in cancer nursing. Based on these findings, there was a relationship between fatigue severity and chemotherapy regimen. Therefore, nurses have to assess these patients completely to recognize potential factors in relation to fatigue and, finally, provide necessary nursing care