Anticipatory nausea development in cancer patients: replication and extension of a learning model

Approximately one in four cancer patients during the course of repeated treatments begins to experience nausea in anticipation of chemotherapy treatments. The following characteristics have been associated with the development of this anticipatory nausea: (1) patient age; (2) the experience of nausea/vomiting after first treatment; (3) the severity of nausea after chemotherapy treatment; (4) the severity of vomiting after chemotherapy treatment; (5) feeling warm or hot all over after treatment; (6) a susceptibility to motion sickness; (7) sweating following treatment; (8) feeling of generalized weakness following treatment. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous research linking these characteristics to anticipatory nausea (AN), with special attention to the potential contribution made by interactions of the characteristics. Logistic analyses demonstrated significant contributions to anticipatory nausea aetiology from the learning-based characteristics of nausea and vomiting presence and their severity; individual difference measures of age and susceptibility to motion sickness were also found to contribute significantly to AN development. Results support a learning theory-based model of anticipatory side-effect development as well as the potential contribution of individual difference measures of AN susceptibility.