title: Association between symptoms and their severity with survival time in hospitalized patients with far advanced cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the significance of symptoms and their severity for predicting survival of hospitalized patients with far advanced cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred fifty-six patients with far advanced cancer at the Cancer Center of Tongji Hospital, China were assessed by the Chinese version of the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI-C). A Cox regression model was used to determine symptoms that could predict survival time. The log-rank test was used to compare the survival of patients accompanied by significant symptoms at different intensities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median survival was 49 days. Fatigue was the most common and severe symptom, followed by lack of appetite, disturbed sleep, and pain. Multivariate analysis showed that fatigue, shortness of breath, lack of appetite, and feeling sad were independent prognostic factors for survival time (p  < 0.05), with a hazard ratio of dying of 1.39, 1.13, 1.33, and 1.16, respectively. The survival time for patients with different intensities of the four symptoms showed significant differences (p  <  0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fatigue, lack of appetite, feeling sad, and shortness of breath could be predictive factors for survival time of hospitalized patients with far advanced cancer. The more severe these symptoms are, the shorter will be survival time.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center of Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Qing-Song
authors.initials: QS
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Shiying
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China; D018450:Disease Progression; D005221:Fatigue; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D017567:Karnofsky Performance Status; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult