Symptom Profiles of Adolescents and Young Adults in Active Cancer Treatment by Diagnostic Groups.
Suzanne Ameringer, R K Elswick, Kristin Stegenga and 3 others
PMID 34966060WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents and young adults on chemotherapy reported many symptoms, with nausea, lack of energy and hair loss most common.
For many symptoms, differences by age, sex and time since diagnosis were small, so ask each patient what bothers them.
Key findings
01Nausea (n=63), lack of energy (n=61) and hair loss (n=50) were the most frequently reported symptoms.
02For the total sample, reported percentages differed minimally for many symptoms across subsets based on age, gender, race/ethnicity and time since diagnosis.
03The most pronounced differences were noted for time since diagnosis: within 6 months, difficulty concentrating, difficulty sleeping, hair loss, lack of appetite, nausea and weight loss were reported at higher percentages; after 6 months, swallowing and lack of energy were reported at higher percentages.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a secondary analysis of baseline data pooled from two studies, so the original studies fixed the sample size, symptom timing and available categories. Only diagnostic groups with at least 10 participants were analysed, and brain cancer (n = 10) and NHL (n = 11) were very small. The analysis used descriptive statistics, so it describes reported percentages rather than testing whether differences are reliable. Symptoms were assessed at different points relative to chemotherapy: after starting a cycle in Study 1 and just before starting a cycle in Study 2, which can change reported symptom frequency. Race and ethnicity categories differed between the two studies, limiting those comparisons. Participants were English-speaking and receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy, and they were at various points in active treatment, so the findings may not apply to other languages, other cancer treatments or later survivorship. The symptom list was based on the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale as adapted for the C-SCAT, so symptoms not included in that list may be missed.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume an AYA's diagnosis, age, sex or time since diagnosis will predict their symptoms. The study was descriptive, and groups such as brain cancer (n = 10) and NHL (n = 11) were very small.