. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Mar 1.

Published in final edited form as: Support Care Cancer. 2012 Sep 1;21(3):765–773. doi: 10.1007/s00520-012-1578-5

Table 4.

Prevalence of Somatic Symptoms in Current Study Compared to Two Literature Syntheses^a

Somatic Symptom	Current Study (n = 405)	Kim et al¹² (n = 3,227)^b	Teuuissen¹⁰ (n = 25,074)^c
	% of patients
Fatigue	79	62	74
Pain	68	40	71
Insomnia	56	41	36
Dry mouth	44	42	40
Memory/concentration difficulties	35	25	28
Drowsiness	33	36	20
Shortness of breath	33	26	35
Lack of appetite	30	32	53
Indigestion/dyspepsia/bloating	29	29	29
Numbness/tingling	29	29	--
Constipation	24	27	37
Nausea	19	21	31
Diarrhea	19	16	11
Dizziness	16	20	17

Prevalence rates represented mean pooled prevalence across all studies in which that symptom was assessed; not every symptom was assessed in each study. Current study included only those symptoms reported as major (i.e., “bothered a lot”) by patients.

Literature synthesis of 18 studies assessing multiple symptoms in patients with a range of cancer types and phases.

Literature synthesis of 44 studies assessing multiple symptoms in patients with recurrent or progressive cancer.