The following is a summary of the “Higher Stress in Oncology Patients is Associated With Cognitive and Evening Physical Fatigue Severity,” published in the March 2023 issue of Pain and Symptom Management by Morse, et al.

Cancer patients frequently complain of mental and physical exhaustion. Both types of fatigue may be affected by the person’s history of stressful life events (SLE), their level of resilience, their coping strategies, and their ability to deal with the challenges presented by cancer. Compare oncology patients (n=1,332) with different profiles of cognitive fatigue AND evening physical fatigue with respect to their levels of global, cancer-specific, and cumulative life stress, as well as their levels of resilience and coping. The 3 patient subgroups with different profiles of cognitive fatigue AND evening physical fatigue were identified using latent profile analysis, which combined the 2 symptom scores (i.e., Low, Moderate, High). 

In this study, patients filled out a battery of questionnaires assessing their ability to deal with and bounce back from various types of stress, including generalized anxiety, stress related to their cancer treatment, and cumulative life stress. Parametric and nonparametric tests assessed the statistical significance between the latent classes on several indicators. For example, global and cancer-specific stress levels were reported to be higher among the Middle and High classes than the Low classes. Furthermore, they reported higher rates of sexual harassment and being forced to touch before the age 16. 

High school students reported lower resilience scores and more frequent use of denial, substance use, and behavioral disengagement than students in the other 2 classes. Clinicians should conduct stress assessments and implement interventions to boost resilience and the use of engagement coping strategies to reduce cognitive and evening physical fatigue. More study is needed to determine how different social determinants of health impact the levels of mental and physical exhaustion experienced by cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0885392422009757