Study on the status of cancer-related fatigue in postoperative patients with primary liver cancer and its influencing factors

Objective To investigate the status of cancer-induced fatigue in patients with primary liver cancer (PLC) and its influencing factors. Methods A total of 149 postoperative PLC patients undergoing surgical treatment during October 2015 to September 2017 in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University were recruited by convenience sampling method. The general data questionnaire, Cancer-Related Fatigue Scale (CFS) and Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) were used to investigate the patients. A total of 149 questionnaires were sent out and 120 valid questionnaires were collected. Results The CFS score of the 120 postoperative PLC patients was (48.13±5.33) . The difference in CFS scores of PLC patients with different education level, monthly income, medical expenses payment, duration of the disease, cognition of disease, chemotherapy and social support was statistically significant (P<0.05) . Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the influencing factors of cancer-related fatigue in patients with PLC were medical expenses payment, duration of disease, cognition of disease, adjuvant chemotherapy and social support (P<0.05) . Conclusions Cancer-related fatigue is a common problem in PLC patients and is affected by many factors. Clinicians need to combine with the actual situation of patients to develop more targeted individualized programs to alleviate the patient fatigue, improve patient social support, and further improve the quality of life of patients. Key words: Liver neoplasms; Cancer-related fatigue; Social support; Influencing factors