title: The course of fatigue in patients with gynecologic and breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study is to examine the course of fatigue in female cancer patients during the first months after treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined a sample of 110 patients suffering from gynecological or breast cancer. Fatigue was assessed with two questionnaires, the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) and the fatigue scale of the quality of life questionnaire European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC QLQ-C30). Participants were tested during their stay in the hospital (t1), two weeks after discharge (t2), and three months after discharge (t3).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fatigue in the patients' sample was markedly higher than the general population reference values. At t1, the effect sizes are d=0.81 (MFI) and d=1.21 (EORTC QLQ-C30 fatigue scale). Age and tumor stage had no significant influence on fatigue, but patients with a long time since diagnosis had higher fatigue levels than patients with a shorter time since diagnosis. From t1 to t3, fatigue mean scores decreased. The correlations between the t1 and the t3 fatigue scores were weak, with correlation coefficients of only about 0.30.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Though the mean scores of fatigue, averaged across all patients, decreased over the first three months, the individual courses could not be predicted from the t1 score.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vollrath
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zenger
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Einenkel
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hinz
keywords: Change; Fatigue; Psycho-oncology; Psychological wellbeing; Quality of life