The DOI matches its Crossref record; 30 of the 30 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Symptom clusters in cancer patients
Abstract
Goals of work Cancer patients often experience multiple symptoms, many of which have been reported to correlate with each other. The goals of this study were to understand which cancer-related symptoms cluster together and to test the conceptual meanings of the revealed symptom clusters.Patients and methods Patients with various cancer diagnoses (N=151) were recruited from a medical center in northern Taiwan. The 13-item M.D. Anderson symptom inventory was used to assess patients' symptom severity. Selected symptoms were factored using principal-axis factoring with oblique rotation. The known-group technique was used to validate the conceptual meanings of revealed factors.Main results Patients' symptom severity ratings fit a three-factor solution that explained 55% of the variance. These three factors (symptom clusters) were named sickness symptom cluster, gastrointestinal symptom cluster, and emotional symptom cluster. Patients with pain and with advanced diseases had significantly higher mean scores in the sickness symptom cluster than patients without pain and with earlier-stage diseases. The patients' functional status was negatively correlated with mean scores in the sickness symptom cluster. Patients under chemotherapy demonstrated significantly higher mean scores in the gastrointestinal symptom cluster than patients under other treatments. Patients with anxiety or depression also had significantly higher mean scores in the emotional symptom cluster than patients without anxiety or depression.Conclusions This study identified three underlying symptom clusters and verified their conceptual meaning in cancer patients. Knowing these symptom clusters may help healthcare professionals understand plausible mechanisms for the aggregation of symptoms.
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“fatigue clusters with pain and sleep more commonly than with anxiety and depression.26,27”
From Mindfulness and Psychosocial Symptoms in People with Cancer: Testing Rumination and Experiential Avoidance as Mediators, and Sex as a Moderator. (2025) · cites this paper as [26]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Chen, M.-L., & Tseng, H.-C.
- Affiliations
- Chang Gung University (TW)
- Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center (TW)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, Mei-Ling
- ORCID
- Chen, Mei-Ling
- Venue
- Supportive Care in Cancer
- Published
- 2006-02-21
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 825-830
- ISSN
- 0941-4355 (ISSN-L)
- 1433-7339
- OpenAlex
- W1996624485
- Cited by
- 159
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2025: 6 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 6.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Supportive Care in Cancer (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Chang Gung University
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Opioid Use
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer-related cognitive impairment studies
- Keywords
- cancer symptoms, symptom clusters, symptom severity, gastrointestinal symptoms, emotional symptoms, pain, chemotherapy, anxiety, depression, functional status, disease stage, MD Anderson Symptom Inventory
- MeSH terms
- Activities of Daily Living, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasms, Quality of Life, Research Design, Severity of Illness Index, Taiwan, Multivariate Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Karnofsky Performance Status
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