A Correlational Study on Taste Alterations and Quality of Life Among Cancer Patients

Abstract Introduction One of the major problems faced by the world today is cancer. Cancer is an abnormal growth of cells. Chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy are the treatment regimen for cancer. Prolonged use of chemotherapy drugs can cause different side effects such as alopecia, weight loss, sexual dysfunction, mood swings, and the most important one is taste alterations. The aim of the study is to determine the taste alterations (TAs) and quality of life (QOL) among cancer patients who have undergone three cycles of chemotherapy. Methods The approach used is descriptive survey design. The sample comprised 62 cancer patients selected by convenient sampling. The tool used was baseline proforma, University of Washington Quality of Life (UW-QOL) questionnaire version 4.1, chemotherapy-induced taste alteration scale (CiTAS). Results The majority of the patients belonged to the age group of 41 to 50 years (37.09%) among whom 40% were females. The majority of the patients were not diagnosed with any other disease (91.9%). Around 80.6% of patients reported to have sore mouth, out of whom 45.2% maintained oral care by brushing teeth. The most commonly seen type of tumor was head and neck (37.1%) whereas the tumor type genitourinary was the least seen (3.2%). The majority of the patients had stage II cancer (53.2%) and about 62% of them did not have metastasis. There is significant association with selected demographic variables and QOL (sore mouth, oral care, and tumor type). There is also a significant association with selected demographic variable and TAs, (oral care and tumor type) and there is a negative correlation between TAs and QOL. Conclusion Identification of the severity of TA helps in providing alternative measures to improve the taste buds which may help in improving the QOL.

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Evaluation of Drug Side Effects Chemotherapy on Quality of Life (QOL) Breast Cancer Patients at Hospital X in Jakarta

JURNAL ILMU KEFARMASIAN INDONESIA ◽

10.35814/jifi.v17i1.705 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 9

Author(s):

Sondang Khairani ◽

Sesilia A Keban ◽

Meyke Afrianty

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Quality Of Life ◽

Side Effects ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

Cancer Type ◽

Drug Side Effects ◽

Breast Cancer Patients ◽

Chemotherapy Drugs

Breast cancer is the number one cancer type discovered at women in the world. Most causes are genetic factors and hormonal factors. One cancer treatments with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy drugs active in cells dividing and reproducing, but cells normally to be affected by chemotherapy and side effects from chemotherapy drugs affect quality of life. The aim of the study to evaluate side effects of chemotherapy drugs on the quality of life of breast cancer patients. Sampling technique observational prospective breast cancer patients with completed the chemotherapy cycle from September 2017 to April 2018 with descriptive analysis and statistics by looking correlation between drug side effects and Quality of Life (QoL). Results of the study were side effects of fatigue 100%, nausea 67,5%, vomiting 60%, no appetite 63,75%, fever 42,5%, joint pain 43,75%, diarrhea 16,25%, difficulty swallowing 16,25%, allergies 5%, itching 1,25%, mouth sores 3,75%, swollen right hand 1,25%, constipation 3,75%. QoL results are physical 6,2%; psychology 5,3%; social 4,9%; spiritual 6,8%. Results of Sperman test showed no correlation between the side effects of chemotherapy and QoL P> 0,05. This study shows that there is no relationship between the side effects drug chemotherapy and QoL in breast cancer patients.

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Symptom Clusters’ Content, Stability and Correlation with the Quality of Life in a Heterogeneous Group of Cancer Patients: A Large-Scale Longitudinal Study

Clinical Nursing Research ◽

10.1177/1054773820933449 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (8) ◽

pp. 561-570

Author(s):

Mohammad Al Qadire ◽

Omar Shamieh ◽

Sameer Abdullah ◽

Faisal Albadainah

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Quality Of Life ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Large Scale ◽

Survey Design ◽

Longitudinal Survey ◽

Symptom Clusters ◽

Treatment Side Effects ◽

The Third

Cancer-related symptoms can negatively affect the quality of life, hinder or delay treatment, and increase suffering. This study aimed to explore symptom clusters among Jordanian cancer patients. A longitudinal survey design was used. The sample consisted of 1280 cancer patients treated in three selected hospitals. Two-thirds of the participants were female (63.5%) with a mean age of 52.7 SD 13.8 years and 40.3% had breast cancer. Five clusters were identified, the first was the psychological cluster of eight symptoms; the second was the treatment side-effects cluster consisting of ten symptoms; the third was the nausea and vomiting cluster comprising four symptoms; the fourth was the pain cluster comprising four symptoms; and last was the fatigue cluster, with three symptoms. Cancer patients through the journey of cancer treatment have several symptoms that tend to occur in five clusters which are negatively correlated with their quality of life.

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Aidi Injection, a Traditional Chinese Medicine Injection, Could Be Used as an Adjuvant Drug to Improve Quality of Life of Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis

Integrative Cancer Therapies ◽

10.1177/1534735418810799 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 ◽

pp. 153473541881079 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Gang Xie ◽

Zhihua Cui ◽

Kai Peng ◽

Xiehai Zhou ◽

Quan Xia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Chinese Medicine ◽

Traditional Chinese Medicine ◽

Propensity Score ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Control Group ◽

Tumor Type ◽

Improvement Rate ◽

Aidi Injection

Background: Clinical research has paid increasing attention to quality of life (QoL) in recent years, but the assessment of QoL is difficult, hampered by the subjectivity, complexity, and adherence of patients and physicians. According to previous studies, QoL in cancer patients is related to performance status (PS) and influenced by chemotherapy-related toxicity. Aidi injection, a traditional Chinese medicine injection, is used as an adjuvant drug to enhance effectiveness of chemotherapy. The study aims to investigate whether Aidi injection could improve QoL by improving PS and reducing toxicity caused by chemotherapy. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medicine University. Data of consecutive patients diagnosed with cancers between January 2014 and June 2017 were retrieved from the electronic medical record system. After a 1:1 propensity score match, patients were then divided into 2 groups based on the therapies used, that is, Aidi injection combined with chemotherapy and chemotherapy alone, and the PS, chemotherapy-related toxicity, and combined medication information were compared. The effect of different dosages of Aidi injection on patients was further explored. Results: A total of 3200 patients were included in this study. Aidi injection combined with chemotherapy exhibited significantly benefit in PS ( P < .001, odds ratio [OR] 3.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.4-4.8) compared with chemotherapy alone after adjusting for the factors that affect PS. The improvement rate of PS in the Aidi group was significantly higher than in the control group across the stratification of gender, age, tumor type, TNM stage, body mass index, nodal metastasis, prior chemotherapy, chemotherapy regimens, other Chinese tradition medicines, and chemotherapy cycle. Meanwhile, Aidi injection used synchronously with chemotherapeutic drugs could decrease the incident rate of damage to liver and kidney function, myelosuppression, and gastrointestinal reactions caused by chemotherapy. Conclusion: It was indicated that the integrative approach combining chemotherapy with Aidi injection, especially with the conventional dosage of Aidi injection, had significant benefit on QoL in cancer patients.

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