ON THE RECEIVING END .5. PATIENT PERCEPTIONS OF THE SIDE-EFFECTS OF CANCER-CHEMOTHERAPY IN 1993

Background: A study conducted in 1983 to identify and rank the symptom s experienced by patients receiving cancer chemotherapy reported that vomiting; and nausea were the most important symptoms experienced. Wit h the advent of new antiemetic regimens and changes in cancer chemothe rapy, it was anticipated that changes may have occurred in patient per ception of symptoms. The study was therefore repeated in 1993. Patient s and methods: One hundred and fifty-five cancer patients receiving ch emotherapy at a large urban teaching hospital participated in the stud y. Patients selected from cards listing symptoms all those experienced and the five most troublesome. Results: Patients reported experiencin g an average of 20 symptoms (13 physical and 7 psychosocial). Nausea w as reported as the most severe symptom followed by tiredness and loss of hair. Vomiting, which was the most severe symptom in 1983, now rank ed 5th. Differences were detected in the symptoms experienced and repo rted as most severe, between chemotherapy regimens, between older and younger patients and between males and females. Conclusions: The resul ts suggest a reduction in the severity of some symptoms experienced wh ile receiving chemotherapy and a shift from concerns about physical to psychosocial issues.