Longitudinal Study of Cancer-Related Fatigue in Patients with Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Dynamic changes of cancer-related fatigue (CRF) among hospitalized patients with colorectalcancer were determined. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: This longitudinal, descriptive study involved 96 hospitalizedpatients with colorectal cancer, all recruited from a tertiary general hospital in Guangzhou, China. Patientscompleted questionnaires three times to assess the degree of fatigue, and measurement points were withinone week of admission, at 2 to 3 days after surgery and 3 weeks after surgery. <br/><b>Results</b>: Significant differencesamong the three measurement points (p<0.01) were observed. The scores of fatigue in the second survey werethe highest, followed by the third and first surveys. Colon cancer patient scores were higher than those of rectalcancer patients with a significant difference (p<0.05). Colorectal patients experienced different degrees of fatigueat different periods during hospitalization. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: This study highlights the importance of interventionsthat are carefully tailored to patients based on the characteristics at different periods to alleviate fatigue.