Table 2.
Prevalence and intensity of symptoms as rated by patients and health care providers
| Symptom assessments | Wilcoxon signed-rank testa | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intensity | None | Mild | Moderate | Severe | Total | ||
| Absolute number (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N | ||
| Pain | Patient | 124 (6.4) | 508 (26.4) | 799 (41.5) | 492 (25.6) | 1923 | -18.5 b |
| Provider | 253 (13.1) | 761 (39.5) | 691 (35.8) | 223 (11.6) | 1928 | ||
| Fatiguec | Patient | 142 (7.4) | 423 (21.9) | 634 (32.8) | 731 (37.9) | 1930 | -18.3 b |
| Provider | 230 (11.9) | 661 (34.3) | 741 (38.5) | 294 (15.3) | 1926 | ||
| Generalized weakness | Patient | 153 (8.0) | 517 (27.0) | 712 (37.1) | 536 (27.9) | 1918 | -16.1 b |
| Provider | 281 (14.6) | 740 (38.3) | 635 (32.9) | 275 (14.2) | 1931 | ||
| Anorexia | Patient | 510 (26.5) | 504 (26.2) | 477 (24.8) | 432 (22.5) | 1923 | -20.2 b |
| Provider | 910 (47.4) | 535 (27.9) | 322 (16.8) | 154 (8.0) | 1921 | ||
| Depression | Patient | 639 (33.4) | 683 (35.7) | 397 (20.8) | 192 (10.0) | 1911 | -16.8 b |
| Provider | 966 (50.1) | 644 (33.4) | 263 (13.6) | 57 (3.0) | 1930 | ||
| Constipation | Patient | 583 (30.3) | 476 (24.8) | 471 (24.5) | 392 (20.4) | 1911 | -17.2 b |
| Provider | 856 (44.4) | 487 (25.3) | 393 (20.4) | 192 (10.0) | 1928 | ||
| Poor sleep | Patient | 735 (38.2) | 572 (29.7) | 409 (21.2) | 209 (10.9) | 1925 | -13.8 b |
| Provider | 976 (50.8) | 554 (28.8) | 309 (16.1) | 84 (4.4) | 1923 | ||
| Dyspnea | Patient | 801 (41.7) | 552 (28.7) | 362 (18.8) | 208 (10.8) | 1923 | -18.5 b |
| Provider | 1199 (62.1) | 414 (21.5) | 219 (11.3) | 98 (5.1) | 1930 | ||
| Nausea | Patient | 871 (45.2) | 530 (27.5) | 342 (17.7) | 184 (9.5) | 1927 | -18.0 b |
| Provider | 1222 (63.3) | 439 (22.7) | 207 (10.7) | 62 (3.2) | 1930 | ||
| Vomiting | Patient | 1317 (68.3) | 351 (18.2) | 161 (8.4) | 99 (5.1) | 1928 | -16.2 b |
| Provider | 1635 (84.7) | 182 (9.4) | 83 (4.3) | 30 (1.6) | 1930 | ||
| Diarrhea | Patient | 1334 (69.6) | 313 (16.3) | 183 (9.5) | 88 (4.6) | 1918 | -16.5 b |
| Provider | 1664 (86.2) | 157 (8.1) | 84 (4.4) | 26 (1.3) | 1931 | ||
aWilcoxon signed-rank test calculations are based on rankings of the differences found by subtracting the patient's symptom score from the provider's symptom score. For all symptoms, the sum of the negative difference ranks was larger than the positive difference ranks indicating that health care providers tend to underestimate symptom intensity compared to patients.
bp < 0.001
c Fatigue was originally assessed in EORTC QLQ-C30 with a scale ranging from 0 to 100. To ensure comparability with the four-point fatigue item assessed by providers, the fatigue scale was recoded into a four-point scale with increasing symptom intensity from 1 to 4: 0-24 was recoded into 1, 25-49 was recoded into 2, 50-74 was recoded into 3 and 75-100 was recoded into 4.