Determinants of the Higher Prevalence and Severity of Subjective Cognitive Impairment in Cancer Patients Compared to Healthy Subjects: Fatigue and Stress

Hee Ju Kim, Ivo Abraham

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examined whether (a) cancer patients in two cohorts reported greater subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) in prevalence and severity than noncancer healthy controls; and (b) selected psychoneurological factors (fatigue, stress, and sleep disturbance) contribute to such differences. Data from 60 prechemotherapy cancer patients, 81 active-chemotherapy cancer patients, and 116 noncancer healthy controls were analyzed using hierarchical regressions. The prevalence rate of SCI was higher in the prechemotherapy cancer cohort (41.6%) and in the active-chemotherapy cancer cohort (46.9%) than in healthy controls (21.5%; p <.001). SCI severity was also higher in two cancer cohorts than noncancer controls (p <.001). The two cancer cohorts were similar to each other in severity and prevalence of SCI. The two cancer cohorts experienced higher fatigue, stress, and sleep disturbance than healthy controls. After controlling for psychoneurological factors, however, the two cancer cohorts did not differ from healthy controls in experiencing SCI in prevalence and severity. Psychoneurological factors may be a major determinant of the higher prevalence and severity of SCI in cancer patients.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)809-817
Number of pages9
JournalClinical Nursing Research
Volume30
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.

Keywords

  • chemotherapy
  • cognitive function
  • cognitive impairment
  • fatigue
  • oncology
  • sleep
  • stress

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