Abstract
BackgroundLung cancer patients without chief complaints have been increasingly identified by physical examination. This study aimed to profile and compare chief complaints with patient-reported symptoms of lung cancer patients before surgery.MethodsData was extracted from a multicenter, prospective longitudinal study (CN-PRO-Lung 1) in China from November 2017 and January 2020. A comparison between chief complaints and patient-reported symptoms was analyzed using the Chi-squared test.ResultsA total of 201 (50.8%) lung cancer patients without chief complaints were found by physical examination at admission, and 195(49.2%) patients had chief complaints. The top 5 chief complaints were coughing (38.1%), expectoration (25.5%), chest pain (13.6%), hemoptysis (10.6%), and shortness of breath (5.1%). There were significantly more patients with chief complaints of coughing (38.1% vs. 15.0 %, P <0.001) and pain (20.5% vs. 6.9%, P<0.001) than those with the same symptoms rated ≥4 via MDASI-LC. There were less patients with chief complaints of fatigue (1.8% vs. 10.9%, P<0.001), nausea (0.3% vs. 2.5%, P=0.006), and vomiting (0.3% vs. 1.8%, p=0.032) than those with the same symptoms rated ≥4 via MDASI-LC. In patients without chief complaints, the five most common moderate to severe patient-reported symptoms were disturbed sleep (19.5%), distress (13.5%), dry mouth (13%), sadness (12%), and difficulty remembering (11.1%).ConclusionsSymptoms of lung cancer patients not included in the chief complaint could be identified via a patient-reported outcome instrument, suggesting the necessity of implementing the patient-reported outcome assessment before lung cancer surgery for better patient care.
The Cystic Fibrosis Impact Questionnaire: qualitative development and cognitive evaluation of a new patient-reported outcome instrument to assess the life impacts of cystic fibrosis