Clinical survey of cancer-related fatigue in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer / 肿瘤

ABSTRACT

Objective: To examine the incidence of cancer-related fatigue in patients with advanced nonsmallcell lung cancer (NSCLC) and explore the relationship between chemotherapy and cancer-relatedfatigue. Methods: One hundred and twenty patients with advanced NSCLC were enrolled between January2009 and December 2009. All patients received four cycles of platinum-based doublet chemotherapy, andthen they were followed-up for one year. The fatigue score was evaluated before chemotherapy, every 2cycles during the period of chemotherapy and every three months during the follow-up by using fatiguenumerical rating scale. Results: In 120 patients with advanced NSCLC, 29 (24.2%) patients had mild fatigue,64 (53.3%) patients had moderate fatigue, and 27 (22.5%) patients had severe fatigue. The average cancer-relatedfatigue score was increased progressively during chemotherapy and reached the highest value of 5.31after 4 cycles of chemotherapy, and then it tended to decline and touch the lowest value of 3.95 after six-monthfollow-up. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) score is the onlyone factor related to cancer-related fatigue (P<0.01), and the age, gender, pathology and clinical stagewere not associated with cancer-related fatigue. The fatigue score was decreased in patients with stabledisease (4.26±2.27 vs 3.64±1.75, P<0.01) or partial response (4.27±2.28 vs 2.33plusmn;1.50, P<0.01) after three-month follow-up as compared with that before chemotherapy, whereas the fatigue score was increased in patients with progressive disease (4.48±2.09 vs 5.00±1.75, P<0.01). Conclusion: The cancer-related fatigue occurred in advanced NSCLC with a very high incidence, and the chemotherapy can strengthen the intensity of cancer-related fatigue, which is related to ECOG PS score and response to chemotherapy. Copyright© 2011 by TUMOR.