Factors associated with palliative
care symptoms in cancer patients
in Palestine
Maher Battat1, Nawal Omair2, Mohammad A. WildAli2, Aidah Alkaissi3,
Husam T. Salameh2,4*, Riad Amer2,4, Amer A. Koni5,6 & Sa’ed H. Zyoud6,7,8*
Palliative care is critical to redundancy in cancer patients seeking to improve their quality of life.
Evaluation should be incorporated into clinical practice routines at all stages of cancer. The Edmonton
Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) was used to rate the intensity of ten symptom evaluations
designed and validated for cancer patients in various languages and cultures. Therefore, the study
aims to assess the symptoms reported using ESAS scores to identify patients who would beneft from
palliative care that can improve the integration of palliative care into standard cancer care at An-Najah
National University Hospital (NNUH). A cross-sectional study was selected for 271 cancer patients
using a convenience sampling method at NNUH. Demographic, clinical, and lifestyle characteristics
are described. Furthermore, patients’ moderate to severe symptoms (score > 4) were obtained using
ESAS-R. The survey consisted of 271 patients, with a response rate of 95%. The average age of the
patients was 47 ± 17.7 years, ranging from 18 to 84 years. The male-to-female ratio was approximately
1:1, 59.4% of the patients were outpatients, and 153 (56.5%) had hematologic malignancies. Fatigue
(62.7%) and drowsiness (61.6%) were the most common moderate to severe symptoms in ESAS.
Furthermore, pain (54.6%), nausea (40.2%), lack of appetite (55.0%), shortness of breath (28.5%),
depression (40.6%), anxiety (47.2%) and poor well-being (56.5%) were reported. In conclusion,
fatigue and drowsiness were the most reported symptoms according to the ESAS scale among cancer
patients, while moderate to severe symptoms were reported in cancer patients using the ESAS. The
ESAS is a functional tool for assessing cancer patients’ symptoms and establishing palliative care
services.
 

العنوان

Aidah Alkaissi

الناشر

Scientific report

بلد الناشر

المملكة المتحدة

Indexing

Scopus

معامل التأثير

4,6

نوع المنشور

إلكتروني فقط

المجلد

13

السنة

2023

الصفحات

13