Investigation of symptom clusters and sentinel symptoms in early postoperative breast cancer patients
- VernacularTitle:乳腺癌术后初期患者症状群及前哨症状的调查研究
- Author:
Lizhen WANG
1
;
Cuiwei LAI
;
Ni QIU
;
Huaying HUANG
;
Junfeng SONG
;
Shiqi WEN
;
Yuting ZENG
;
Danna ZENG
;
Tai XU
;
Tianli LAI
Author Information
- Keywords: breast cancer; early postoperative period; symptom clusters; sentinel symptoms; symptom management; cross-sectional study
- From: Journal of Clinical Medicine in Practice 2024;28(20):23-26,31
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
- Abstract: Objective To investigate the composition of symptom clusters in early postoperative breast cancer patients and analyze the sentinel symptoms of each cluster of symptoms.Methods A total of 309 patients who underwent mastectomy were conveniently sampled and surveyed using the Chinese version of the Anderson Symptom Inventory.Principal component analysis and varimax or-thogonal rotation were employed to analyze the symptom clusters,and their associations were analyzed using the Apriori algorithm model to identify the sentinel symptoms of each cluster of symptoms.Re-sults Three symptom clusters were identified in early postoperative breast cancer patients:neuro-sleep symptom cluster[fatigue(weakness)-distress-pain-sleepiness-restless sleep],sensory-perception symptom cluster(numbness-forgetfulness-shortness of breath-sadness-dry mouth),and digestive system symptom cluster(nausea-vomiting-loss of appetite).Fatigue was the sentinel symptom of the neuro-sleep symptom cluster,numbness was the sentinel symptom of the sensory-perception symptom cluster,and nausea was the sentinel symptom of the digestive system symptom cluster.Conclusion Early postoperative breast cancer patients experience multiple symptom clusters,with sentinel symptoms ex-isting in each cluster.Healthcare staff should develop intervention measures based on sentinel symp-toms to improve the efficiency of symptom management and reduce the degree of symptom distress for patients.
