Prevalence of symptoms and quality of life of cancer patients.

OBJECTIVES

to analyze the prevalence of symptoms and their relationship with the quality of life of cancer patients.

METHODS

this is a cross-sectional study with 107 patients evaluated using a sociodemographic instrument, the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) and the quality of life scale (EORTC-QLQ-C30). Pearson's correlation test was used to evaluate the relationship between symptoms and quality of life.

RESULTS

prevalence of female patients (56.1%), 55 years as the mean age and 10 years of schooling. Fatigue (76.6%), insomnia (47.7%), pain (42.1%), loss of appetite (37.4%), anxiety (31.8%) and depression (21.5%) were identified. Anxiety and depression symptoms presented a negative correlation with quality of life and positive correlation with physical symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

fatigue, insomnia, pain and loss of appetite were the most common and most intense symptoms. Anxiety and depression symptoms presented a negative correlation with quality of life and positive correlation with physical symptoms.