( Fatigue is one of the most common and d...)Cancer patients monitor fatigue in real time

Nurse researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are studying fatigue in cancer patients undergoing stem cell transplants using a method successfully used to monitor behaviors such as smoking cessation and alcohol use.

The method is called "ecological momentary assessment" (often referred to as real-time assessment), which provides an instant measurement of patients' fatigue.

Clinicians and researchers usually rely on a patient's memory to collect data on symptoms such as fatigue. But it's difficult for patients to go back in time, says Eileen Hacker, clinical assistant professor and lead researcher of the study, or to average their symptom experiences.

"Their mood may affect their recall. They may have been experiencing pain in addition to fatigue, and that affects how they remember the fatigue experience," she said.

In Hacker's study, patients used a device that is worn like a wristwatch to record the data. The patients entered the intensity of their fatigue by using 10 numbered buttons on the device, one being no fatigue and 10 being the worst.

Patients recorded their fatigue three times a day for three days prior to stem cell transplantation and three days following the procedure. A signal from the device reminded patients when to enter the data.

The Fatigue Guidelines Panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network defines cancer-related fatigue as "an unusual, persistent, subjective sense of tiredness related to cancer or cancer treatment that interferes with usual functioning." Fatigue commonly is one of the first symptoms of cancer, and the longest-lasting symptom following cancer in both children and adults, Hacker said.

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Source:University of Illinois at Chicago