Acta Oncol. 2014 Oct 7:1-7.

A prospective analysis on fatigue and experienced burden in informal caregivers of cancer patients during cancer treatment in the palliative phase

Peters ME, Goedendorp MM, Verhagen SA, Smilde TJ, Bleijenberg G, van der Graaf WT.

Patients on palliative oncological treatment and their carers completed the Checklist Individual Strength questionnaire to assess fatigue (carers also completed the Caregivers Strain Index) at baseline and follow-up (6 months later). At baseline 111 couples (patients and cares) participated with 75 completing follow-up questionnaires. At both time points almost a quarter of cares of patients on active palliative treatment were severely fatigued. There was no correlation in fatigue between patients and cares. However, fatigue in both patients and cares were associated with carer burden. These findings need to be taken into account with the growing demand on cares and the increase in palliative oncological treatment.

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