Prevalence and predictors of fatigue in haemo-oncological patients

Fatigue is a common symptom in patients with advanced malignancy, and has been associated with both physiological and psychological factors in patients with solid tumours.

This study sought to explore the predictors of fatigue in a population with haematological malignancy.

Consecutive outpatients and inpatients attending a haematology centre completed the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale, and clinical, treatment and demographic information were noted.

Of 180 patients, fatigue was present in 69%, and causing considerable distress in 26%. Univariate analysis revealed fatigue was associated with poor performance status, low haemoglobin, feeling sad, worried, irritable and nervous. Multivariate modeling revealed that those factors predictive of fatigue were poor performance status, having active disease, feeling sad and irritable, while haemoglobin level was not predictive of fatigue.

Fatigue is a multidimensional symptom in patients with haematological malignancy whose presence must prompt a holistic assessment of potential contributors that goes beyond correction of haemoglobin levels.