Table 2. Characteristics of 5 symptom clusters using hierarchial cluster analysis among HIV+ palliative care patients (N = 217).
| Characteristics of each cluster: | CLUSTER 1 ‘Dermatological- related’ | CLUSTER 2 ‘Generalised anxiety & elimination‘ | CLUSTER 3 ‘Social and image-related’ | CLUSTER 4 ‘Persistently present‘ | CLUSTER 5 ‘Gastro intestinal- related‘ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking variable: functional status: limited self-care/ completely disabled (%) | 45* | 37* | 32* | 23* | 17* | ||||||
| Characteristics of patients in the cluster: | number of patients (n) | 40 | 46 | 31 | 70 | 30 | |||||
| age (mean; S.D.) | 36.4; 8.6 | 37.4; 10.1 | 36.3; 7.5 | 36.2; 8.8 | 36.0; 10.3 | ||||||
| sex: female (%) | 68.0 | 71.7 | 81.0 | 69.0 | 83.3 | ||||||
| on ART (%) | 45.0 † | 63.0 † | 65.0 † | 47.1 † | 27.0 † | ||||||
| MSAS-SF symptoms and prevalence of symptoms in the cluster: | 1)itching | 70.0 | 1)feeling nervous | 76.1 | 1)swelling of arms or legs | 29.0 | 1)numbness/ tingling in hands or feet | 62.9 | 1)nausea | 13.3 | |
| 2)pain | 61.4 | ||||||||||
| 2)dizziness | 41.3 | 3)feeling irritable | 57.1 | ||||||||
| 2)changes in skin | 65.0 | 3)shortness of breath | 37.0 | 2)hair loss | 25.8 | 4)cough | 52.9 | 2)vomiting | 13.3 | ||
| 4)feeling bloated | 37.0 | 5)feeling drowsy/ tired | 50.0 | ||||||||
| 5)difficulty concentrating | 36.9 | 3)mouth sores | 22.6 | 6)worrying | 45.7 | ||||||
| 6)difficulty sleeping | 32.6 | 7)dry mouth | 44.3 | 3)lack of appetite | 6.7 | ||||||
| 8)sweats | 41.4 | ||||||||||
| 7)problems urinating | 17.4 | 4)problems with sexual interest/ activity | 22.6 | 9)feeling sad | 40.0 | ||||||
| 10)lack of energy | 38.6 | 4)changes in way food tastes | 3.3 | ||||||||
| 8)constipation | 17.4 | 5)diarrhoea | 12.9 | 11)weight loss | 28.6 | ||||||
| 6)difficulty swallowing | 6.5 | 12)”I don’t look like myself” | 28.6 | ||||||||
| Level of distress in MSAS—SF symptom cluster: | PSYCH (mean; S.D.) | 2.0; 0.8* | 1.8; 0.7* | 2.0; 0.7* | 0.9; 0.8* | 1.6; 0.7* | |||||
| PHYS (mean; S.D.) | 2.3; 0.7* | 1.7; 0.6* ‡ | 1.5; 0.7* | 0.8; 0.7* | 1.2; 0.5* | ||||||
| GDI (mean; S.D.) | 2.3; 0.7* | 2.1; 0.6* ‡ | 2.1; 0.7* | 1.1; 0.7* | 1.5; 1.0* | ||||||
Abbreviations: MSAS-SF = Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale-Short Form ART = Antiretroviral Therapy PSYCH = Psychological Symptom Subscale score PHYS = Physical Symptom Subscale score GDI = Global Distress Index score S.D. = Standard Deviation
*Significant at 0.001 level
†Significant at 0.05 level
‡Missing value = 1