Table 3.
Under- and overestimation of symptoms by health care providers as compared to patients
| Symptom (difference) | Health care provider underestimation | Good agreement | Health care provider overestimation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -3 | -2 | % | 0 | ± 1 | % | 2 | 3 | % | |
| Pain | 28 | 148 | 9.2 | 904 | 822 | 90.0 | 16 | 0 | 0.8 |
| Fatigue | 32 | 226 | 13.4 | 795 | 838 | 84.9 | 30 | 2 | 1.7 |
| Generalized weakness | 26 | 178 | 10.6 | 781 | 883 | 86.8 | 44 | 4 | 2.5 |
| Anorexia | 127 | 243 | 19.4 | 865 | 636 | 78.5 | 33 | 8 | 2.1 |
| Depression | 50 | 149 | 10.4 | 1028 | 652 | 88.1 | 28 | 1 | 1.5 |
| Constipation | 66 | 156 | 11.6 | 1101 | 570 | 87.2 | 21 | 3 | 1.3 |
| Poor sleep | 46 | 150 | 10.2 | 1037 | 649 | 88.0 | 26 | 7 | 1.7 |
| Dyspnea | 41 | 153 | 10.1 | 1127 | 577 | 88.8 | 17 | 5 | 1.1 |
| Nausea | 50 | 149 | 10.3 | 1177 | 534 | 88.9 | 13 | 1 | 0.7 |
| Vomiting | 39 | 87 | 6.5 | 1445 | 346 | 93.0 | 8 | 0 | 0.4 |
| Diarrhea | 33 | 106 | 7.3 | 1465 | 307 | 92.5 | 4 | 1 | 0.3 |
Number and percentage of patient-provider pairs with symptom scores showing good agreement (health care provider minus patient score within ± 1), considerable underestimation (health care provider minus patient score ≤ -2) and considerable overestimation (health care provider minus patient score ≥ 2).