DIFFERENCES IN SYMPTOM CLUSTERS IDENTIFIED USING SYMPTOM OCCURRENCE RATES VERSUS SEVERITY RATINGS IN PATIENTS WITH BREAST CANCER UNDERGOING CHEMOTHERAPY

摘要

PurposeOne of the unanswered questions in symptom clusters research is whether the number and types of symptom clusters vary based on the dimension of the symptom experience used to create the clusters. Given that patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy (CTX), report between 10 and 32 concurrent symptoms and studies of symptom clusters in these patients are limited, the purpose of this study, in breast cancer patients undergoing CTX (n=515), was to identify whether the number and types of symptom clusters differed based on whether symptom occurrence rates or symptom severity ratings were used to create the clusters.