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Quality of life and symptom burden in hematological cancer patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: an observational study at Regional Cancer Centre, India

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Abstract

Purpose

Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is an intense form of treatment, resulting in major symptom burden but can prove curative. The quality of life (QOL) is a major endpoint for these patients as the survival rate in them has improved over time. The aim of the study is to assess the QOL and symptom burden of hematological malignancy patients at admission to hospital for HSCT, at 1 month and at 3 months following HSCT.

Methods

This prospective observational study was done on hematological malignancy patients who were admitted for HSCT in a regional cancer center. The study subjects were assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Bone Marrow Transplant Scale (FACT–BMT Scale), Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale-revised (r-ESAS), and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale—21 Items (DASS-21) at the time of hospital admission for transplantation, on day 30 (~ 1 month) and day100 (~ 3 months) of transplantation.

Results

A total of 68 patients were included in this study. FACT–BMT scores have decreased from baseline (F0) to the first follow-up (F1) and then increased in the third follow-up (F2). The maximum r-ESAS mean score was for tiredness among all other symptoms at F0 as well as at F1 and at F2. The DASS 21 scores for depression, anxiety, and stress were maximum during F1 and minimum during F2.

Conclusion

Symptom burden is maximum during the first month of BMT, which improves later and QOL becomes improved with time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Onco-Anaesthesia and Palliative Medicine, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, India, 110029

    Neethu Susan Abraham, Seema Mishra, Sushma Bhatnagar, Rakesh Garg, Sachidanand Jee Bharati, Nishkarsh Gupta & Vinod Kumar

  2. Department of Medical Oncology, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, India

    Lalit Kumar & Atul Sharma

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  1. Neethu Susan Abraham
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Contributions

Neethu Susan Abraham: Detailed literature study, Analysis and synthesis of information, Design of the work, Preparation of manuscript including figures & tables.

Seema Mishra: Revision of draft copy, synthesis of information, critical revision for important intellectual content.

Sushma Bhatnagar, Lalit Kumar, Atul Sharma, Rakesh Garg, Sachidanand Jee Bharati, Nishkarsh Gupta, Vinod Kumar: Overall supervision of the work, critical revision for important intellectual content.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Seema Mishra.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This study was conducted at Dr B. R. Ambedkar, Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India. This study was carried out in line with the institutional ethics committee of AIIMS, New Delhi (Ref. No.: IECPG-174/28.02.2019, RT-26/27.03.2019).

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from those participating in the study. All information regarding the subjects was kept confidential.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Abraham, N.S., Mishra, S., Bhatnagar, S. et al. Quality of life and symptom burden in hematological cancer patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: an observational study at Regional Cancer Centre, India. Support Care Cancer 32, 274 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-024-08481-8

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