Support Care Cancer (2007) 15: 171–177 DOI 10.1007/s00520-006-0113-y
Sara C. Higgins Guy H. Montgomery Dana H. Bovbjerg
Received: 6 April 2006 Accepted: 14 June 2006 Published online: 3 August 2006 # Springer-Verlag 2006
S. C. Higgins (*) . G. H. Montgomery . D. H. Bovbjerg Biobehavioral Medicine Program, Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 1425 Madison Avenue, Box 1130, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA e-mail:
[email protected] Tel.: +1-212-6595597 Fax: +1-212-8492564
ORIGINA L ARTI CLE
Distress before chemotherapy predicts delayed but not acute nausea
Abstract Introduction: Posttreatment nausea (PTN) is a common side effect of cytotoxic cancer chemotherapy. Previous retrospective research has suggested that the severity of PTN may be, in part, related to pretreatment psychological factors (e.g., emotional distress and expectations for nausea). Materials and methods: The purpose of the present study was to examine these relationships prospectively, with distress and nausea expectations assessed by validated self-report measures completed in the clinic before the participants’ first outpatient treatment infusion and with PTN (0–100) assessed by end-of-day diaries completed at home on each of the first 5 days after treatment. The participants were chemotherapy-naive women (N=56) scheduled for standard adjuvant treatment for stage I–II breast cancer (mean age=45.6 years). PTN was evaluated for acute (days 0–1) and delayed (days 2–5) responses. Results: The results revealed a significant relationship between pretreatment distress and the
Introduction Many of the cytotoxic agents used for the treatment of cancer cause nausea and vomiting [21]. Although the medical community tends to perceive the control of emesis as a top priority, patients often view control of nausea as equally, if not more, important [9, 31]. Posttreatment nausea (PTN) is a highly aversive symptom that has been repeatedly ranked as one of the most debilitating side
severity of the patients’ subsequent delayed nausea (p
