Background: There is growing interest in the symptom cluster of these symptoms rather than single symptoms and has been commonly termed as respiratory distress cluster. So, we conducted this audit review with a goal to explore the prevalence of RDS among lung cancer patients and to find association between RDS and the histological type of lung cancer.Methods: A retrospective review of records of lung cancer patients referred to palliative care department at Tata medical center, Kolkata, India was done. The records of 6 months (July 2018 to December 2018) were reviewed and relevant details were noted down. Hospital management system of our institution was screened for all the lung cancer patients during the above said period. Demographic details and various symptoms like cough, breathlessness, fatigue and other symptoms were also noted. Histological diagnosis was also noted as per the records. Results: We found that 20.24% had cough with fatigue, 20.24% had cough with breathlessness, 25% had fatigue with breathlessness and 13.10% had cough, fatigue and breathlessness in the present study. The proportion of fatigue was significantly higher among the small cell type (75%) when compared to non small cell type (p=0.0425) The proportion of SxCl cough with fatigue was significantly higher among the small cell carcinoma (60%) when compared to other subtypes. (p=0.0467)Conclusions: Among symptom clusters, fatigue with breathlessness was the most common. The proportion of fatigue and fatigue with cough was significantly higher among small cell carcinomas when compared to non small cell carcinoma subtype.
Symptom Clusters and Relationships to Symptom Interference with Daily Life in Taiwanese Lung Cancer Patients