Pain, fatigue, anxiety and depression in older home-dwelling people with cancer.
Elena Solvik, Siri Ytrehus, Inger Utne and 1 others
PMID 31871728WHAT IT FOUND
Most older home-dwelling cancer patients report low pain, anxiety, and depression, but fatigue remains high.
Anxiety and depression are strongly linked, and women report significantly higher distress. Assess fatigue and mental health in all patients, not just those with obvious pain.
Key findings
01Participants reported low mean scores for pain (2.41), anxiety (1.89), and depression (2.12), but higher mean fatigue (4.08).
02Women reported significantly higher anxiety and depression scores than men, but pain and fatigue levels did not differ by sex.
03Higher pain scores were significantly associated with higher levels of fatigue and anxiety, and anxiety and depression showed the strongest correlation among symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Symptoms were measured with single items, which may lack the depth of full scales. Self-reported symptoms could not be cross-checked with medical records. The sample had more women than men, and women were more likely to live alone and be in treatment, which may influence symptom reporting. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that pain causes fatigue or anxiety.
Declared interests
The Norwegian Cancer Society funded the study. The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that low pain scores mean low overall distress. Fatigue was the highest-scoring symptom, and anxiety and depression were strongly linked to pain even when pain levels were generally low. Also, do not attribute the higher distress in women solely to sex, as more women in the study were living alone and undergoing active treatment.