CN72 - Symptom burden, quality of life and emotional status of patients with advanced lung cancer seen at the functional lung unit

Background

Lung cancer is usually diagnosed at advanced stage with a high burden of symptoms, deterioration in quality of life (QOL) and significant emotional impact. Interventions in these patients are aimed at improving QOL through physical and emotional symptoms management. It is important for the advanced practice nurse (APN) to know baseline health status of patients before treatment initiation to address interventions to improve their outcomes.

To describe the burden of symptoms, QOL and emotional status of outpatients with lung cancer before starting the antitumor treatment.

Methods

This is an observational study, evaluating consecutive patients with advanced lung cancer from January to April 2023 from the outpatient clinic of the lung functional unit (UFP). The intensity of the symptoms, QOL, anxiety, depression and APN interventions will be measured using validated and ad-hoc constructed questionnaires with Likert-type responses. The analysis was descriptive using percentages, frequencies, and measures of dispersion.

Results

48 patients, 60.0% men, 75.9% aged 60-75, 83.6% diagnosed with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Symptoms burden: dyspnea 52.7%, cough 70.4%, pain 65.8%, sleep disturbance 59%, asthenia 63.5%, anorexia 28.2%, constipation 32.2%. The scores for quality of life were 54.2/100, anxiety 5.3/21, and depression 4.3/21. General interventions carried out by the APN consisted of health education on symptoms and toxicity management, treatment and queries about the disease. Specific interventions consisted of placing a peripheral venous access 12.5%, consultation with a psycho-oncologist 6.3%, psychosocial committee 2.08%, social worker 2.08%, smoking cessation 2.08% and referrals to other specialists 2.08%.

Conclusions

The outpatients seen have low QOL scores, a high burden of symptoms and a certain level of anxiety and depression. Knowing the most prevalent symptoms, the QOL and the emotional state of the patients at the beginning of the treatment will allow the APN to optimize the interventions to address the different physical and emotional symptoms and improve the quality of life of these patients.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

I. Brao Pérez.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.