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How Does Symptom Management Affect Quality of Life in Palliative Care Patients? A Descriptive and Correlation Study
Gülşah Çamcı1, Sıdıka Oğuz1, Gülsüm Betül Uçar1
1Marmara University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Department of Internal Medicine Nursing, Istanbul, Türkiye.
Aims:
This study aimed to determine the relationship between symptom management and quality of life in palliative care patients.
Methods:
Data was collected using the Patient Information Form, the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS), and the EQ-5D Quality of Life Scale. The ESAS rates each symptom from 0 to 10, with scores ≥ 5 indicating moderate-to-severe burden. The EQ-5D index score ranges from -0.59 to 1, with higher scores representing better health-related quality of life. The EQ-5D VAS score ranges from 0 to 100.
Results:
According to the ESAS, 54.9% of the patients scored ≥ 5 points for pain, 42.5% for fatigue, 34.6% for insomnia, 20.9% for nausea, 44.4% for loss of appetite, 53.6% for shortness of breath, 33.3% for depression, 35.3% for anxiety, 37.9% for feeling unwell, and 26.8% for constipation. The mean EQ-5D quality of life score was 0.03 ± 0.45, and the EQ-5D VAS score was 48.10 ± 11.85. The quality-of-life sub-dimension scores showed that 60.1% had extreme problems with mobility, 69.3% in self-care, 64.7% in usual activities, 21.6% in pain/discomfort, and 15.7% in anxiety/depression. The patient's quality of life decreased as the days of hospitalization increased. A significant negative correlation was observed between quality of life and symptom severity, indicating that quality of life decreased as symptoms worsened. According to the simple regression analyses, the variables pain, fatigue, insomnia, nausea, loss of appetite, depression, anxiety, feeling unwell, constipation, edema in the legs, age, and body mass index were found to be significant negative predictors of quality of life.
Conclusion:
Palliative care patients had moderate symptom control and a poor quality of life.
Practice Implications:
Pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods of symptom control in palliative care should be increasingly used. Providing patients with symptom control can improve their quality of life. Further studies on symptom control in palliative care patients are needed.
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