The association between health-related quality of life and achievement of personalized symptom goal

• Published in: Supportive care in cancer Vol. 28; no. 10; pp. 4737 - 4743
• Main Authors: Tagami, Keita, Kawaguchi, Takashi, Miura, Tomofumi, Yamaguchi, Takuhiro, Matsumoto, Yoshihisa, Watanabe, Yuki Sumazaki, Uehara, Yuko, Okizaki, Ayumi, Inoue, Akira, Morita, Tatsuya, Kinoshita, Hiroya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Anxiety - etiology; Anxiety - psychology; Appetite; Cancer; Cancer Pain - etiology; Disease management; Dyspnea; Fatigue; Fatigue - etiology; Female; Goals; Health psychology; Humans; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Neoplasms - physiopathology; Neoplasms - psychology; Nursing; Nursing Research; Objectives; Oncology; Original Article; Pain management; Pain Medicine; Prospective Studies; Quality of Life; Rehabilitation Medicine; Self Report; Surveys and Questionnaires; Symptom management; Cancer patients; Physical symptom; Symptom management; Personalized symptom goal; Quality of life
• ISSN: 0941-4355; 1433-7339
• DOI: 10.1007/s00520-020-05316-0

Purpose The aim of study was to explore the potential association between patient’s self-reported physical symptom management goals as personalized symptom goal (PSGs) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in cancer patients. The secondary outcome was to investigate the relationship between number of physical symptoms not achieving the PSGs and HRQOL in cancer patients. Methods This single-center prospective observational study comprised 140 consecutive outpatients. We evaluated the PSGs and HRQOL using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General (FACT-G). Patients were administered a self-report questionnaire, including reports on their physical symptom intensity and PSGs using Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-revised (ESAS-r) scores. We investigated the correlation between PSGs achievement (ESAS-r score ≤ PSG score) and FACT-G total scores, and relationship between and number of physical symptoms not achieving the PSGs (ESAS-r score > PSG score) and FACT-G total scores. Results The patients who did not achieve PSGs of pain, tiredness, lack of appetite, and shortness of breath had a lower FACT-G total score ( p  < 0.05). Multivariate linear regression showed that higher number of physical symptoms not achieving the PSGs correlated with lower FACT-G scores (decreasing by 1.826 points for each such symptom, p  < 0.01). Predictors of increased number of physical symptoms not achieving the PSGs were younger age and a higher symptom intensity of anxiety. Conclusion PSGs achievement was associated with HRQOL in cancer patients. Additionally, the number of unachieved PSGs were independent determinant of poor HRQOL, particularly in younger cancer patients and those with higher symptom intensity of anxiety.