Characteristics of Pain and Factors Associated with Fatigue among First-Diagnosed Solid Malignancy Patients: A...

Cancer-related pain and fatigue are prevalent and debilitating symptoms experienced by most cancer patients. Chronic fatigue in cancer patients leads to sleep disturbances and reduces performance status, especially during treatment. This study aims to explore characteristics of pain and factors associated with fatigue among patients with solid malignancies diagnosed for the 1^st time.

This cross-sectional, prospective survey purposively included 141 patients with solid malignancies presenting for the 1^st time at a tertiary care hospital. Information was collected using a structured pre-tested socio-demographic and clinical profile, the McGill pain questionnaire and the multi-dimensional fatigue inventory-20. Relevant descriptive and inferential statistics were used to generate the results.

In this study, 141 patients (male 66, female 75, mean age 49.87 [standard deviation = 10.45]) were included. The most frequent pain descriptor terms were 'pricking' (n = 49, 34.8%), 'sharp' (n = 39, 27.7%), 'shooting' (n = 33, 23.4%), 'stabbing' (n = 29, 20.6%), 'pulling' (n = 27, 19.1%) and 'suffocating' (n = 25, 17.7%). Severe clinical insomnia was presented in 14.9% of patients. Findings reported that advanced age, informal education, distant metastasis, no pain medications, sleep disturbances and poor performance status were associated with higher fatigue in patients.

Patients with cancer reported a multifaceted nature of pain. Cancer stage, tumour extension, performance status and sleep disturbances are among the factors associated with higher fatigue among patients. The use of evidence-based pain and fatigue management protocols, along with targeting sleep quality and performance status, may help improve the care and well-being of cancer patients.