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Cancer related fatigue: A ubiquitous problem yet so under reported, under recognized and under treated
*Corresponding author: Dr. Akhil Kapoor. kapoorakhil1987@gmail.com
This article was originally published by Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. and was migrated to Scientific Scholar after the change of Publisher.
Abstract
Abstract
Background: Cancer related fatigue (CRF) is a problem that is highly under reported, under recognized and thus, under treated. About 80% of patients receiving chemotherapy/radiotherapy experience CRF, making it the most common side effect of cancer treatment. Functional assessment of chronic illness therapy fatigue (FACIT-F) version-4 is a 13 item questionnaire that has been used to measure the level of fatigue of cancer patients during their daily activities over the past 7 days. Materials and Methods: 92 patients of age 18 years and above attending the oncology Out Patient Department (OPD) of a regional cancer center were recruited in this study and were given FACIT-F questionnaire. The relevant sociodemographic parameters were obtained from the medical records of the patients. The internal consistency of the 13 items was measured using the Cronbach′s alpha. Results: The Cronbach alpha coefficient for FACIT-F scale in our study was found to be 0.74. Kendall′s coefficient of concordance was estimated to be 0.080. The correlation between Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status and mean score of FACIT-F was studied, Pearson correlation coefficient was estimated to be 0.271 (P = 0.009). Conclusions: FACIT-F is a brief, simple, easy to administer and patient friendly tool to measure the fatigue in last 7 days. CRF should be given adequate attention from the beginning of the treatment to improve the quality of life of cancer patients.
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Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank consultants in Department of Oncology Dr.Ajay Sharma, Dr. N Sharma, Dr. S L Jakhar, Dr. R Bothra and Dr.J Nangal. Also, they express gratitude to PG Students of the Department: Dr. Raj K Nirban, Dr. Sitaram, Dr. Daleep, Dr. Guman, Dr. Murali, Dr. Tanya, Dr. Rajesh, and Dr. R Purohit.
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