Symptom occurrence, symptom intensity, and symptom distress in patients undergoing high-dose chemotherapy with stem-cell transplantation

The main aim of this study was to investigate the patients' self-reported symptom occurrence, symptom intensity (SI), and symptom distress (SD) from admission for stem-cell transplantation (SCT) until discharge from the ward. Forty-three patients participated and data were collected at 7 different time-points by using the self-administered Symptom Frequency, Intensity, and Distress questionnaire for SCT (SFID-SCT). The results showed that symptom occurrence followed a curve on which the highest frequencies of symptoms were reported from the day of the SCT (T2) until the end of the protective care period (T5). The mean SI and SD scores became higher when the number of reported symptoms increased. Between T2 and T5, 33% to 54% of the patients reported >10 simultaneous symptoms. Symptoms reported by more than 50% of the patients during T2-T5 were tiredness, loss of appetite, mouth dryness, nausea, sleeping disturbances, diarrhea, and changes of taste. Loss of appetite, tiredness, and mouth dryness were, in descending order, the 3 symptoms reported as most intense and distressing. A statistically significantly higher SD-score was found for the patients undergoing allogeneic SCT on the day before start of the conditioning regimen, as compared to the patients undergoing autologous SCT. Patients reporting no anxiety on admission were found to have higher, mean SD-scores at the end of the hospital stay than anxious patients. The SFID-SCT questionnaire was found to give useful information not only about symptom occurrence but also about SI and SD. To use an instrument that distinguishes between these aspects of the symptom experience may help health care professionals to support the patients through the SCT-process.