title: Evolution of cancer-related symptoms over an 18-month period.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies have revealed inconsistent findings about the longitudinal evolution of cancer-related symptoms. In addition, the contribution of medical factors (e.g., cancer site, and treatments) in explaining the changes in these symptoms is yet to be established.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This prospective study investigated longitudinal changes of five symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, and pain) in patients scheduled to undergo surgery for cancer (N=828).
  
  
  METHODS
  The patients completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, and a pain questionnaire at baseline and after 2, 6, 10, 14 and 18 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several time changes were statistically significant but effect sizes only revealed one change of a medium magnitude, that is, a reduction of anxiety from T1 to T2 (d=-0.58). Women with breast or gynecological cancer were the only subgroups to exhibit significant changes (i.e., reduction of a small magnitude of anxiety symptoms from T1 to T2; ds=-0.27 and -0.30, respectively). However, numerous differences were found across adjuvant treatments, including greater variations in depression and insomnia scores in the chemotherapy group (ds=-0.71 to 0.20) and a transient increase in fatigue symptoms in patients receiving "all" adjuvant treatments (ds=-0.24 to 0.37).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The severity of cancer-related symptoms varies during the cancer care trajectory, especially anxiety scores, which importantly decrease during the first few months after the surgery. This study also suggests that treatment regimens better account for individual differences than cancer site in the evolution of symptoms.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Université Laval and Laval University Cancer Research Center, Québec, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trudel-Fitzgerald
authors.forename: Josée
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Savard
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ivers
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015984:Causality; D015897:Comorbidity; D018450:Disease Progression; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult