Fatigue Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Fatigue, including details on chronic fatigue syndrome, exhaustion, causes, diagnosis.

Symptom clusters and quality of life in survivors of ovarian cancer.

Fox SW, Lyon D

Cullather Brain Tumor Quality of Life Center, Bon Secours Richmond, St. Mary's Hospital, Richmond, VA 23226, USA. foxsherry@aol.com

Ovarian cancer has nonspecific symptoms, and no screening tool is available for early diagnosis; therefore, only 19% of ovarian cancers are found at an early stage. Given the late diagnosis, women with ovarian cancer often have a prolonged course of treatment and significant morbidity that lasts into survivorship. However, distressing symptoms and their effects on quality of life have been relatively understudied, particularly in survivors of the disease. The purpose of this study was to describe a symptom cluster and its relationship to quality of life in women with ovarian cancer who were recruited from an online cancer support group. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression techniques were used to analyze the data obtained from a larger study testing the psychometric properties of a quality-of-life instrument. Most participants had stage III ovarian cancer, and nearly all (97%) had undergone treatment before the study. A symptom cluster composed of depression and fatigue was identified using work by Kim and colleagues [Symptom clusters: concept analysis and clinical implications for cancer nursing. Cancer Nurs. 2005;28(4):270-282]. The symptom cluster explained 41% (P = .000) of the variance in quality of life. These results suggest that fatigue and depression are significant problems for survivors of ovarian cancer.

Published 18 September 2007 in Cancer Nurs, 30(5): 354-61.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Fatigue Research Today. All Rights Reserved.