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Functional loss in daily activity in ovarian cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy

  • Gynecologic Oncology
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Cancer survivors frequently experience cancer or treatment-related symptoms and functional morbidities that can be addressed through rehabilitation services, but these symptoms often go unnoticed and seldom managed. This study seeks to investigate the undetected patient symptoms and functional loss related to the activities of daily living (ADLs) in ovarian cancer patients during chemotherapy and to identify the influence of chemotherapy on such loss.

Methods

Ovarian cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy were identified from June to August 2016, who were treated at the department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of two tertiary hospitals. The questionnaires on the present cancer and treatment-related symptoms, patient recognition of rehabilitation needs, and the Katz index score were collected.

Results

Records of total 168 ovarian cancer patients were selected and reviewed. The majority of patients (93.5%) experienced at least one symptom, with paresthesia (76.2%), fatigue (63.1%), pain, muscle weakness, memory and concentration dysfunction, lymphedema, breathing discomfort, dysphagia, and speech difficulty being the primary complaints in descending order. About 20% of ovarian cancer patients under chemotherapy had functional dependence in ADLs. The most affected ADL functions were continence, bathing, transfer, and dressing in descending order. Fatigue symptom and the functional dependence showed a significant correlation in proportion to the total number of chemotherapy cycles.

Conclusions

There are undetected symptoms and functional loss in ovarian cancer patients during chemotherapy, which aggravated in relation to the increase in accumulated chemotherapy. Timely and appropriate rehabilitative intervention may help minimize these symptoms and functional loss, and further contribute to the improved quality of life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, National Rehabilitation Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    In Yae Cheong

  2. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea

    Ji Sung Yoo & Seung Hyun Chung

  3. Center for Uterine Cancer and Gynecologic Cancer Branch, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea

    Sang Yoon Park

  4. Department of Nursing, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Hyun-Ju Song

  5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Jeong-Won Lee

  6. Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Ji Hye Hwang

Authors
  1. In Yae Cheong
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  2. Ji Sung Yoo
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  3. Seung Hyun Chung
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  4. Sang Yoon Park
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  5. Hyun-Ju Song
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  6. Jeong-Won Lee
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  7. Ji Hye Hwang
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Contributions

IYCheong: project development, data analysis, manuscript writing. JSY: data collection, data analysis. SHC: data collection. SYP: data collection. H-JS: data collection, management. J-WL: data collection. JHH (corresponding author): protocol development, manuscript editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ji Hye Hwang.

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Conflict of interest

None. I have full control of all primary data and I agree to allow the journal to review the data if requested.

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Cheong, I.Y., Yoo, J.S., Chung, S.H. et al. Functional loss in daily activity in ovarian cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Arch Gynecol Obstet 299, 1063–1069 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-018-4996-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-018-4996-x

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