Table 1.
Patient characteristics according to distress level at the start of RTa
| Variable | Low distress, 0-3 (n = 295)b | Moderate distress, 4-6 (n = 222)b | High distress, 7-10 (n = 161)b | P valuec |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age at start of RT, y | 68 (29-97) | 66 (27-90) | 63 (23-93) | .003 |
| Male | 161 (54.6) | 98 (44.1) | 67 (41.6) | .011 |
| Primary cancer site | <.001 | |||
| Head and neck | 53/147 (36.1) | 60/147 (40.8) | 34/147 (23.1) | |
| Breast | 58/145 (40.0) | 50/145 (34.5) | 37/145 (25.5) | |
| GI tract | 44/96 (45.8) | 31/96 (32.3) | 21/96 (21.9) | |
| Genitourinary tract | 51/74 (68.9) | 11/74 (14.9) | 12/74 (16.2) | |
| Lung | 28/62 (45.2) | 17/62 (27.4) | 17/62 (27.4) | |
| Brain or CNS | 14/41 (34.2) | 11/41 (26.8) | 16/41 (39.0) | |
| Soft tissue or bone | 11/37 (29.7) | 15/37 (40.5) | 11/37 (29.7) | |
| Gynecologic site | 12/35 (34.3) | 15/35 (42.9) | 8/35 (22.9) | |
| Skin | 19/26 (73.1) | 5/26 (19.2) | 2/26 (7.7) | |
| Lymph node | 5/15 (33.3) | 7/15 (46.7) | 3/15 (20) | |
| Stage | .19 | |||
| 0 or 1 | 56/215 (26.0) | 55/173 (31.8) | 41/123 (33.3) | |
| 2 | 69/215 (32.1) | 39/173 (22.5) | 27/123 (22.0) | |
| 3 | 48/215 (22.3) | 47/173 (27.2) | 26/123 (21.1) | |
| 4 | 42/215 (19.5) | 32/173 (18.5) | 29/123 (23.6) | |
| Dose, cGy | 5040 (1000-7920) | 5,82 (540-7920) | 5040 (1400-7000) | .86 |
| Metastatic at start of RTd | 25 (8.5) | 28 (12.6) | 11 (6.8) | .14 |
| Chemotherapy at or before start of RT | 156 (52.9) | 126 (56.8) | 90 (55.9) | .65 |
| Surgery at or before start of RT | 200 (67.8) | 160 (72.1) | 110 (68.3) | .56 |
CNS, central nervous system; GI, gastrointestinal; RT, radiation therapy.
a
Patients rated their distress level from 0 (no distress) to 10 (extreme distress).
b
Continuous data are presented as median (range). Categorical data are presented as number of patients (percentage of sample).
c
P values are from a Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test or the Fisher exact test.
d
Metastatic disease information was unavailable for 1 patient.