Stability of Symptom Clusters in Patients With Gynecologic Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy.
Rachel A Pozzar, Marilyn J Hammer, Bruce A Cooper and 8 others
PMID 34560709WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with gynecologic cancer reported 14.2, 15.3, and 12.8 symptoms on average across a chemotherapy cycle.
Hormonal and respiratory clusters stayed stable over time, whether symptoms were counted, rated for severity, or rated for distress.
Key findings
01Patients with gynecologic cancer had a mean number of symptoms of 14.2 before chemotherapy, 15.3 about one week after chemotherapy, and 12.8 about two weeks after chemotherapy.
02Hormonal, respiratory, and weight change clusters were identified across all three rating types and time points.
03Only hormonal and respiratory clusters met criteria for stability over time and across rating types.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was a convenience sample, and it was 77.1% White, 55.1% married or partnered, and had an average of 16.0 years of education, so it may not represent all patients with gynecologic cancer. The analysis included only 232 patients with gynecologic cancer from a larger sample, and only the first three assessments, so it followed patients for a single cycle rather than many cycles. Patients had different gynecologic cancer diagnoses, chemotherapy agents, and previous treatments, which may change symptom clusters. Seven symptoms were excluded from clustering because they were either too common or too uncommon at the first assessment, so the clusters may not include all important symptoms. The researchers chose the factor solution that seemed most interpretable and clinically meaningful, so the clusters depend on that judgment.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these clusters as proof that treating a single symptom will relieve the whole group. The study described symptom patterns over time; it did not test a treatment.