| Sumario: | Background & Significance: Following treatment, cancer survivors develop chronic symptoms that negatively impact their quality of life (QoL). These symptoms vary by diagnosis and treatment type yet include pain, anxiety, depression, cognitive impairment, fatigue, and sleep disturbance. Symptom management is vital to the enhancement of cancer survivors' QoL following treatment; however, cancer survivors continue to experience significant symptom burden, despite improvements in cancer care. Purpose: To describe the most prevalent and severe symptoms reported by cancer survivors receiving care in survivorship clinics. Methods: Using a retrospective, cross-sectional study design, investigators examined responses to the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI) sent to patients seen at one of six survivorship clinics (breast, genitourinary, head and neck, lymphoma, thoracic, and thyroid) through the electronic medical record (EMR) seven days prior to their clinic visit. Findings and Interpretations: Cancer survivors (n = 2,276) were seen in the following survivorship clinics: breast (n = 929, 36.4%), thyroid (n = 741, 29.1%), head and neck (n = 328, 12.9%), lymphoma (n = 198, 7.8%), genitourinary (n = 198, 7.8%), and thoracic (n = 80, 3.5%). Fatigue was the most frequently reported symptom among survivors seen in the thyroid and thoracic cancers and lymphoma clinics and second most frequently reported by survivors seen in the breast, head and neck, and genitourinary cancer clinics. Fatigue was reported among 260 of the 747 (34.8%) thyroid cancer survivors. Patients seen in the breast and genitourinary cancer survivorship clinics reported sleep disturbances most frequently, thyroid cancer and lymphoma and survivors second most frequently, and head and neck cancer survivors third most frequently. Among head and neck cancer survivors, dry mouth was the most problematic symptom in 88 of 328 (27%) of patients. Discussion: The results of this study emphasize the urgent need for interventions aimed at mitigating frequently reported symptoms by cancer survivors, particularly fatigue and sleep disturbances. The present study employed a retrospective, cross-sectional design. Thus, future longitudinal studies focused on the effects of fatigue, sleep disturbances, and dry mouth on cancer survivors over time would inform research to develop interventions aimed at improving quality of life for cancer survivors.
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