title: Prevalence, Duration, Severity, and Distress of Chemotherapy-Related Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Patients With a Hematologic Malignancy.
abstract: To describe prevalence, duration, severity, and distress of chemotherapy-related gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, and evaluate inclusion of clinically relevant GI symptom items on cancer symptom questionnaires. .
  
  
  
  Longitudinal descriptive design. .
  
  
  
  Inpatient and outpatient hematology settings. .
  
  
  
  105 adults with a hematologic malignancy receiving their third or subsequent cycle of chemotherapy.  .
  
  
  
  Participants completed weekly assessments of 19 GI symptoms during a three-week period of chemotherapy. Descriptive statistics were calculated to summarize GI symptom prevalence, duration, severity, and distress ratings at each week. Findings were compared to item content of 12 cancer multisymptom questionnaires identified in the literature. .
  
  
  
  GI symptom prevalence, duration, severity, and distress. .
  
  
  
  Participants reported an average of three to five GI symptoms at each time point that were typically experienced as mild to moderate in duration, severity, and distress. Only 3 of 11 clinically relevant GI symptoms were included on more than half of the cancer symptom questionnaires.  .
  
  
  
  Patients receiving chemotherapy experience a moderate GI symptom burden across a wide range of potential GI symptoms. .
  
  
  
  Future research should include measures of clinically relevant GI symptoms that may be emerging with new cancer therapies and toxicity prevention protocols.
authors.affiliation: University of Iowa.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cherwin
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kwekkeboom
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents
keywords: chemotherapy; clinical relevance; gastrointestinal symptoms; hematologic malignancy; symptom assessment