High Prevalence of Dyspnea in Lung Cancer: An Observational Study.

Abstract

Introduction:Dyspnea is a subjective, multidimensional experience of breathing discomfort, commonly seen in patients with advanced cancer. This study is a secondary analysis to seek the clinical prevalence of dyspnea on a subset of patients with lung cancer. Improving the quality of life (QoL) in dyspnea requires aggressive symptom management, which in turn entails a detailed understanding of its symptomatology.Materials and Methods:This was a subset analysis of lung cancer patients of a prospective observational study done over 6 months from April to September 2014 at the Department of Palliative Medicine, Tata Memorial Centre (Mumbai).Results and Conclusions:About 71.43% of the patients with advanced lung cancer experienced dyspnea. Dyspnea increased with worsening fatigue, anxiety, appetite, and well-being. Patients described it as an increased sense of effort for breathing, and it lowered the QoL substantially.