Boland, E.G. orcid.org/0000-0003-2571-5929, Khamis, A., Tay, K.T. et al. (5 more authors) (2025) Symptom prevalence in gastrointestinal cancer: a secondary analysis of IPOS data. Supportive Care in Cancer, 33 (10). 860. ISSN: 0941-4355
Abstract
Purpose
Patients with gastro-intestinal (GI) cancer have a high symptom burden; however, comparative data to other cancers is lacking. The aim is to determine symptom prevalence for people with GI cancer receiving specialist palliative care in the community.
Method
Secondary analysis of anonymised routinely collected symptom registry data from those receiving community-based specialist palliative care, between 2020 and 2023.
Results
One thousand seven hundred thirty-three patients with GI cancer received 2,332 episodes of specialist palliative care. Common symptoms were: - pain (77% prevalence in GI cancer vs 73% other cancers); with 49% reporting being moderately/severely/overwhelmingly affected in GI vs 46% in other cancers. - nausea (34% in GI cancer vs 25% other cancers); with 16% moderately/severely/overwhelmingly affected in GI vs 11% in other cancers. - vomiting (17% in GI cancer vs 11% other cancers); with 8% moderately/severely/overwhelmingly affected in GI vs 5% in other cancers. - poor appetite (77% in GI cancer vs 68% other cancers); with 56% moderately/severely/overwhelmingly affected in GI vs 46% in other cancers. poor mobility (79% in GI cancer vs 84% other cancer); with 53% moderately/severely/overwhelmingly affected in GI vs 62% in other cancers.
Conclusion
This novel study provides comparative evidence about the nature of the high symptom burden for those with GI cancer and shows that poor appetite, nausea, vomiting, and worse mobility are more prevalent compared to other cancers, while pain and weakness are of similar prevalence. The underlying reasons may relate to illness trajectory, referral timing, or other causes and need further exploration.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Symptom prevalence; IPOS; Gastrointestinal cancer; Specialist palliative care; Community settings |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 26 Sep 2025 09:29 |
Last Modified: | 26 Sep 2025 09:29 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s00520-025-09919-3 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:232086 |