Symptom Clusters’ Content,Stability and Correlation with the Quality of Life in a Heterogeneous Group of Cancer Patients: A Large-Scale Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Cancer-related symptoms can negatively affect the quality of life, hinder or delay treatment, and increase suffering. This study aimed to explore symptom clusters among Jordanian cancer patients. A longitudinal survey design was used. The sample consisted of 1280 cancer patients treated in three selected hospitals. Two-thirds of the participants were female (63.5%) with a mean age of 52.7 SD 13.8 years and 40.3% had breast cancer. Five clusters were identified, the first was the psychological cluster of eight symptoms; the second was the treatment side-effects cluster consisting of ten symptoms; the third was the nausea and vomiting cluster comprising four symptoms; the fourth was the pain cluster comprising four symptoms; and last was the fatigue cluster, with three symptoms. Cancer patients through the journey of cancer treatment have several symptoms that tend to occur in five clusters which are negatively correlated with their quality of life.