Although studies show that cancer patients consider fatigue as an important problem,
few, if any, studies have quantified the impact of fatigue on overall quality of life
(QoL) in cancer patients. In the present study, we evaluated the relative impact of
different QoL domains/subscales, including fatigue, on overall QoL in cancer patients
preceding radiotherapy.
Sixty-four patients with lung or breast cancer selected for high-dose radiotherapy
on the primary tumour completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment
of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire. Multivariate models were fitted to define
the impact of QLQ-C30 subscales, including fatigue, on overall QoL.
Of all QLQ-C30 subscales, fatigue showed by far the strongest univariate correlation
with overall QoL (r = -0.76, P < 0.001); correlations for functioning subscales (r
= 0.44-0.55) and symptom subscales (r = -0.31 to -0.45) were considerably lower. In
multivariate analyses, adjusting for potential confounders, fatigue was the only subscale
that independently contributed to overall QoL (standardized regression coefficient-0.57,
P < 0.001).
Our results indicate that, of all QoL domains/subscales, fatigue is by far the predominant
contributor to patient-perceived overall QoL in both lung and breast cancer patients
preceding high-dose radiotherapy.