title: Fatigue in prostate cancer patients treated with external beam radiotherapy: a prospective 5-year long-term patient-reported evaluation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Limited information is available regarding the long-term effect of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) on fatigue in individuals with prostate cancer (PC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Men with PC treated with EBRT from January 1992 to June 2003 were enrolled in a prospective study. The QLQ-C30 questionnaire was used to evaluate pre-treatment fatigue and up to 5 years post-treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  407 men with 5-year assessments were analyzed. Fatigue increased between pre-treatment (mean: 15.5; CI: 13.6-17.4) and 5-years post-treatment (mean: 22.8; CI: 20.5-25.1; P<0.001). Pre-treatment fatigue was absent in 206/407 (59%) patients and 5-year post-treatment was reported by 264/407 (66%). Sixteen of 407 patients (4%) reported severe fatigue after 5 years. Physical-, emotional-, cognitive function, and dyspnea were the factors that correlated most to higher level of fatigue 5-year post-treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fatigue is a common symptom among patients with PC. A large percentage of patients reported pre-treatment fatigue. Fatigue increased over time, with the highest level seen at the end of EBRT. Severe fatigue was reported by 4% 5-year post-treatment. More work is needed in order to identify which patients are most susceptible to developing fatigue especially during radiotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden. per.fransson@nurs.umu.se
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fransson
mesh_terms: D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires