Descriptive Epidemiology of Sweating in a Hospice Population

Abstract

Sweating can be a distressing and difficult problem to manage in patients with advanced cancer. Despite this, few published data exist on the frequency, nature, and severity of sweating in cancer patients. This prospective survey describes the epidemiology of sweating in patients with advanced cancer on admission to a London hospice. 153 consecutive admissions were assessed. Of these, 100 were suitable for inclusion into the study. A general symptom enquiry was performed on all patients. Age, sex, primary diagnoses, extent of disease, relevant secondary diagnoses, and concurrent medication were also recorded. 16 patients volunteered sweating as a problem. For 12 of these 16 patients, sweating had been severe (drenching sweats requiring change of clothing or bedlinen or both) in nature. This survey highlights sweating as a significant problem in this group of patients.