Multiple Gastrointestinal Symptoms Are Associated With Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea in Patients With Breast Cancer.
Komal P Singh, Kord M Kober, Brenda Ernst and 11 others
PMID 34183520WHAT IT FOUND
Breast cancer patients who reported chemotherapy-induced nausea also reported more dry mouth, vomiting, constipation, taste changes, and poor appetite.
Nurses should assess these symptoms and antiemetic use, not only nausea.
Key findings
0147.2% of the 532 patients with breast cancer reported chemotherapy-induced nausea in the week before their next cycle.
02In the final model, nausea was associated with lower function, shorter chemotherapy cycle length, dry mouth, vomiting, constipation, change in taste, and lack of appetite.
03Patients on a 14-day chemotherapy cycle had 1.92 or 4.17 higher odds of being in the nausea group than patients on a 21-day or 28-day cycle.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study only looked at nausea in the week before the next chemotherapy cycle, so it may have missed nausea that started earlier or changed over time. Patients did not report whether they took antiemetics as prescribed, so nausea may have reflected poor adherence rather than regimen failure. The sample was mostly White, college educated, and had metastatic disease, so results may not apply to all breast cancer patients. The study found associations, not causes, and did not test whether treating dry mouth, taste changes, constipation, vomiting, or poor appetite reduces nausea.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The article is listed as supported by NIH, but no commercial sponsor is named in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that dry mouth, taste changes, vomiting, constipation, or poor appetite cause nausea. This study only compared patients who did and did not report nausea at a single time point, and it did not test whether treating those symptoms reduces nausea.