Correlation between anemia, unintentional weight loss and inflammatory status on cancer-related fatigue and quality of life before chemo and radiotherapy

Summary Background Cancer-related anemia is considered a side effect of treatment and the most important cause of fatigue. The object of the current study was to investigate the possible correlation between anemia, unintentional weight loss and systemic inflammation on cancer-related fatigue and quality of life before chemo and radiotherapy. Patients and methods One hundred and sixty four consecutive outpatients affected by solid tumor of different origins were enrolled. In all patients, anemia, unintentional weight loss, C-reactive protein, fatigue (Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory-Short Form) and quality of life (EUROQOL EQ-5D) were assessed before treatment. Results Thirty two percent of the patients were anemic before treatment. Anemia was prevalent in case of unintentional weight loss ( p  = 0.001) and in recent surgery ( p  = 0.011), not in patients with high C-reactive protein ( p  = 0.181). Anemia was weight loss-related ( p  = 0.001). Forty seven percent of the patients suffering from unintentional weight loss before treatment. Weight loss was prevalent in case of C-reactive protein ≥10 mg/dL ( p  = 0.004), but not in case of recent surgery ( p  = 0.150). Weight loss was C-reactive protein-related ( p  = 0.001). In the multivariate analysis only anemia and weight loss influenced quality of life ( p  = 0.031), ( p  = 0.002) and fatigue ( p  = 0.016), ( p  = 0.036) independently. Conclusion Our data suggest that management of weight loss should deserve in cancer patients the same attention as the management of anemia, inflammatory status and pain.