Assessment of Fatigue in Brain Cancer Patients Treated with Chemotherapy

Abstract

A descriptive study aimed to evaluate the extent of fatigue in brain cancer patients treated with chemotherapy treatment and factors associated with fatigue. To fulfill these study 100 patients were gathered from the outpatient clinic for chemotherapy administration from Ist of Nov 2013 to the end Feb2014 in Radiation and Nuclear Medicine hospital Fatigue Symptoms Inventory (FSI) scale was used for assessment of fatigue contains four subscales (severity, interference with daily activity, frequency and diurnal). The result of this study declared that the highest total mean score of fatigue subscale was (4.54 ±2.50) for frequency of fatigue in last week, followed by a high mean score of fatigue (4.42 ±2.86) for the subscale of fatigue interference with activity for the past week, while the lowest mean score was for the daily pattern of fatigue (2.93 ±1.33).Concerning the fatigue severity, the highest percentage (36%) of patients had moderate fatigue. In conclusion, fatigue is a significant problem for patients with brain cancer who had received chemotherapy although its severity is relatively different according to various variables.The study recommended for further research with large number of patients to investigate incidence, pattern and severity of symptoms and also examine the functional status impairment in those patients under chemotherapy treatment.