Hiccups in Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy: A Cross-Sectional Study

Hiccups are a symptom in cancer patients but it's less researched.

The aimed to determine of prevalence of hiccups and treatment approach used in hiccup management in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy for nursing care.

This study used a descriptive cross-sectional design with self-reported questionnaires and was conducted from November 2018-May 2019 in Turkey. For collection of the data, a Patient Information Form (sociodemographic and disease characteristics), and a Hiccups Evaluation Form were used for the patients.

Hiccups were observed in 37 (23%) of the 160 patients who met the criteria for inclusion in the study. The great majority of the patients suffering from hiccups were male (65.9%) and the type of cancer in the majority of these patients was gastrointestinal cancer (54.1%). It was determined that the duration of hiccups in 83.8% of patients observed with hiccups was between 0 and 48 hours, that the average severity of their hiccups was 3.81 ± 2.25 (0-10), and that hiccups in 59.5% of these patients was of low severity. It was found that only 10.8% of patients suffering from hiccups used pharmacological methods for relief and that 27% used nonpharmacological methods.

The results of the study showed that over one-fifth of cancer patients suffered from hiccups. This situation reveals that hiccups are an important symptom that needs to be carefully emphasised in oncology practice.