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 Mar;14(1):49-55.
doi: 10.4314/ahs.v14i1.8.

Symptom clusters and quality of life in China patients with lung cancer undergoing chemotherapy

Dandan Wang  1 , Jufang Fu  1
Affiliations

Symptom clusters and quality of life in China patients with lung cancer undergoing chemotherapy

Dandan Wang et al. Afr Health Sci. 2014 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: To explore the symptom clusters and quality of life in patients with lung cancer undergoing chemotherapy.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was completed with 183 patients from three public hospitals in Xi'an, China. Patients completed a demographic questionnaire, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung Cancer (FACT-L) and the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI-C). Factor analysis was used to identify symptom clusters based on the severity of patients' symptom experiences. The resulting clusters were correlated with quality-of-life measures.

Results: The QOL scores of lung cancer patients on the functioning subscale were the lowest (9.70±5.30), while those of the family subscale were the highest (19.28±3.24). Three symptom clusters were identified: gastrointestinal, emotional and fatigue-related symptoms. There was a negative relationship between the symptom clusters and multiple dimensions of quality of life (r -0.178 ∼-0.805, p< 0. 05). Females, especially those women with low education level /chronic diseases, were experienced greater symptom distress than others.

Conclusions: The clusters had a negative relationship with QOL. Identifying symptom clusters helped clarify possible inter-relationships which may lead to the establishment of more effective symptom management interventions for patients with lung cancer in order to improve the quality of life.

Keywords: factor analysis; lung cancer; quality of life; symptom clusters; symptom management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. http://www.phsciencedata.cn/Share/advancedSearchDataSet.jsp.[EB/OL].2012....
    1. Gift AG, Jablonski A, Stommel M, Given CW. Symptom clusters in elderly patients with lung cancer. Oncol Nurs Forum. 2004;31(2):202–212. - PubMed
    1. Dodd MJ, Miaskowski C, Paul SM. Symptom clusters and their effect on the functional status of patients with cancer. Oncol Nurs Forum. 2001;28(3):465–470. - PubMed
    1. Fan G, Filipczak L, Chow E. Symptom clusters in cancer patients: a review of the literature. Curr Oncol. 2007;14(5):173–179. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kim HJ, McGuire DB, Tulman L, Barsevick AM. Symptom clusters: concept analysis and clinical implications for cancer nursing. Cancer Nurs. 2005;28(4):270–282. 283–284. - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances