The symptom burden of cancer: Evidence for a core set of cancer‐related and treatment‐related symptoms from the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Symptom Outcomes and Practice Patterns study

<jats:sec><jats:title>BACKGROUND</jats:title><jats:p>A set of common cancer‐related and treatment‐related symptoms has been proposed for quality of care assessment and clinical research. Using data from a large, multicenter, prospective study, the authors assessed the effects of disease site and stage on the percentages of patients rating these proposed symptoms as moderate to severe.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>METHODS</jats:title><jats:p>The severity of 13 symptoms proposed to represent “core” oncology symptoms was rated by 3106 ambulatory patients with cancer of the breast, prostate, colon/rectum, or lung, regardless of disease stage or phase of care; 2801 patients (90%) repeated the assessment 4 to 5 weeks later.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>RESULTS</jats:title><jats:p>At the time of the initial assessment, approximately 33% of the patients reported ≥ 3 symptoms in the moderate‐to‐severe range; 11 of the 13 symptoms were rated as moderate to severe by at least 10% of all patients and 6 were rated as moderate to severe by at least 20% of those receiving active treatment. Fatigue/tiredness was the most severe symptom, followed by disturbed sleep, pain, dry mouth, and numbness/tingling. More patients with lung cancer and patients receiving active treatment reported moderate to severe symptoms. Percentages of symptomatic patients increased by disease stage, less adequate response to therapy, and declining Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status. The percentages of patients reporting moderate to severe symptoms were stable across both assessments.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>CONCLUSIONS</jats:title><jats:p>The results of the current study support a core set of moderate to severe symptoms that are common across outpatients with solid tumors, that can guide consideration of progression‐free survival as a trial outcome, and that should be considered in clinical care and in assessments of quality of care and treatment benefit. <jats:bold><jats:italic>Cancer</jats:italic> 2013;119:4333–4340</jats:bold>. © <jats:italic>2013 American Cancer Society</jats:italic>.</jats:p></jats:sec>