Occurrence, severity, and impact of cancer-related fatigue in Taiwanese patients with cancer: A national survey.

Abstract

77 Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is common symptom in cancer patients. However, there is no study related to occurrence, severity and impact of CRF in Taiwan. The aim of this study was to report the occurrence and severity of CRF, and its impact on quality of life in cancer inpatients and outpatients in Taiwan. Methods: A national survey with cross-sectional study design was used. Patients were recruited from 20 hospitals with inpatients unit (n = 574) and outpatients clinics (n = 633) in Taiwan. The structured questionnaire was used to assess patients’ demographic, clinical, and CRF characteristics among Taiwanese cancer patients. The CRF were assessed by International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) and Brief Fatigue Inventory–Taiwan Form (BFI-T). Quality of life (QOL) was assessed by FACT-general. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were used to compare the occurrence, severity, and impacts on quality of life of CRF between cancer inpatients and outpatients. Results: Overall, the occurrence was 23.36% based on ICD-10 CRF criteria and 31.9% and 15.6 for inpatients and outpatients, respectively. About94.4% of inpatients and 89.7% of outpatients experienced fatigue. Inpatients had significant higher fatigue severity (current fatigue, general fatigue, and worst fatigue) during the past 24 hours compared to the outpatients. Enjoyment of life was the most interfered by fatigue in both inpatients and outpatients. The mean levels of current fatigue, general fatigue and worst fatigue were moderate in inpatients, and they were mild to moderate in outpatients. The mean score of FACT-general was 17.57 in overall with the lowest level of functional well-being, and 15.68 and 19.29 in inpatients and outpatients. Conclusions: The occurrence based on the ICD-10 CRF criteria was relative low compared to self-report. Fatigue interfered patients’ enjoyment of life and the patients had the lowest level of quality of life in functional well-being. Healthcare providers should pay attention on how to decrease cancer patients’ fatigue in order to improve their QOL, especially in inpatients.