Risk Factors of Capecitabine-Induced Hand-Foot Syndrome: A Single-Institution, Retrospective Study

This retrospective study was conducted to identify risk factors for developing hand-foot syndrome (HFS) and to determine new strategies for improving quality of life (QoL) in patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Between April 2014 and August 2018, we enrolled 165 cancer patients at our outpatient chemotherapy center who were undergoing capecitabine chemotherapy. Variables related to the development of HFS were extracted from the clinical records of patients for use in regression analysis. HFS severity was assessed at the time of completing capecitabine chemotherapy. The degree of HFS was classified in accordance with the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5. Multivariate ordered logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for the development of HFS.

Risk factors for the development of HFS included concomitant use of a renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitor (odds ratio [OR] = 2.85, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.20-6.79; p = 0.018), body surface area (BSA) (high) (OR = 12.7, 95% CI = 2.29-70.94; p = 0.004), and albumin (low) (OR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.20-0.96; p = 0.040).

Concomitant use of RAS inhibitor, high BSA, and low albumin were identified as risk factors for the development of HFS. The identification of potential risk factors of HFS may assist in the development of strategies that can be used to improve QoL in patients receiving chemotherapy regimens that include capecitabine.