Patterns and Related Factors of Fatigue during Radiotherapy in Patients with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the patterns and related factors of fatigue in patients with breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy.

Method: 31 women with breast cancer receiving radiotherapy were recruited from the out-patient radiologic clinic of the university hospital in Seoul, Korea over a period of 3 months. Data was collected prospectively concerning three points for 5½ - 6½ weeks : before radiotherapy(T1), 2 weeks after starting radiotherapy(T2) and the completion of radiotherapy(T3). Data were analysed by repeated measure ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression.

Result: 1. Score of fatigue increased significantly over the course of radiotherapy. 2. Score of symptom distress and emotional distress increased and functional status scores decreased significantly over time. 3. Fatigue was positively related with symptom distress and emotional distress and negatively related with functional status over the course of radiotherapy. 4. At T2, emotional distress explained 24.7% of the variation in fatigue. At T3, symptom distress(41.9%) and emotional distress(7.2%) explained the variance in fatigue.

Conclusion: the results of this study provided evidence that fatigue increased over the course of radiotherapy and symptom distress and emotional distress were influencing factors of fatigue in this group. The results of this study suggest that comprehensive intervention strategy for fatigue should be developed to maintain quality of life during and following radiotherapy considering these factors.