Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Dec;135(3):510-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2014.09.016. Epub 2014 Sep 30.

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and its impact on health-related quality of life among ovarian cancer survivors: results from the population-based PROFILES registry

Nicole P M Ezendam  1 , Brenda Pijlman  2 , Celine Bhugwandass  3 , Johannes F M Pruijt  4 , Floortje Mols  5 , M Caroline Vos  6 , Johanna M A Pijnenborg  7 , Lonneke V van de Poll-Franse  8
Affiliations

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and its impact on health-related quality of life among ovarian cancer survivors: results from the population-based PROFILES registry

Nicole P M Ezendam et al. Gynecol Oncol. 2014 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: This study assessed the prevalence and risk factors of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, and its impact on health-related quality of life among ovarian cancer survivors, 2-12 years after diagnosis.

Methods: Women (n=348) diagnosed with ovarian cancer between 2000 and 2010, as registered by the Dutch population-based Eindhoven Cancer Registry, were eligible for participation. A questionnaire, including the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-OV28 measures, containing 3 items about neuropathy, was returned by 191 women (55%). Recurrence and chemotherapy data were obtained from medical records.

Results: Of all 191 women, the 129 women who received chemotherapy more often reported having tingling hands/feet and feeling numbness in fingers/toes, specifically 51% reported "a little" to "very much" of these symptoms vs. about 27% who did not receive chemotherapy. Women reporting more neuropathy symptoms reported lower levels of functioning and overall quality of life. They also reported more symptoms of fatigue, nausea/vomiting, pain, dyspnea, insomnia, appetite loss, and financial problems. Moreover, women reporting more neuropathy symptoms had experienced the disease and treatment more often as being a burden and were more worried about their health, had more gastrointestinal and hormonal symptoms, hair loss and more other chemotherapy side effects. Linear regression analyses showed that more cycles of chemotherapy, more recurrences and a shorter period since last treatment were associated with a higher neuropathy score.

Conclusion: Neuropathy symptoms were experienced by 51% of women with ovarian cancer who received chemotherapy even up to 12 years after the end of treatment, and this seriously affected their HRQoL.

Keywords: Cancer; Chemotherapy; Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy; Health-related quality of life; Neuropathy; Neurotoxicity; Oncology; Ovarian cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources