Does apathy impact cancer patient symptom burden? (original) (raw)

Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2010

Abstract

e19598 Background: Apathy, or lack of motivation, has been little studied in cancer patients. Because interventions for Cancer-Related Fatigue (CRF) often include behavioral change and involve commitment to treatment, patient apathy may be detrimental to outcome success. We conducted an observational study in our CRF Clinic and report on 110 patients evaluated for apathy. Our objectives were to investigate associations between apathy and fatigue-related symptoms and determine if clinically apathetic patients differed from the non-apathetic in symptom burden. Methods: New CRF patients were evaluated for apathy using the Apathy Evaluation Scale, Clinician Version (AES-C) as primary outcome measure. The AES-C provides a continuous apathy score (range 18-72); scores can also be used to categorize patients as apathetic or non-apathetic (AES-C ≥ 38 reflects clinically significant apathy). To explore apathy and fatigue symptom associations, AES-C scores were correlated (Spearman's rho) with five symptoms commonl...

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