Factors Affecting Quality of Life in Patients Receiving Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Publication/Presentation Date

3-1-2022

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is a potentially curative treatment for hematologic malignancies, with 22 000 HSCTs performed annually in the United States. However, decreased quality of life (QoL) is a frequent and concerning state reported by HSCT recipients.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine if measurements of frailty and cognitive impairment were associated with fatigue and QoL in adult HSCT recipients after autologous HSCT.

METHODS: Using a longitudinal study design, 32 participants 18 years or older receiving autologous HSCT were recruited from a bone marrow transplant clinic. Each participant completed 2 visits: pre-HSCT and post-HSCT. At each visit, participants completed assessment tools to measure frailty, cognitive impairment, fatigue, and QoL (assesses physical, social/family, emotional, functional, and transplant-related well-being).

RESULTS: Participants with increased fatigue scores reported decreased QoL pre- and post-HSCT. Participants with increased frailty showed decreased functional well-being before HSCT and showed correlations with decreased physical, social, and transplant-related well-being post-HSCT. As expected, fatigued participants also showed increased frailty post-HSCT. Participants showed significant changes in physical well-being and fatigue between pre-HSCT and post-HSCT visits.

CONCLUSION: Data analyses from this pilot study show significant correlations between subsets of QoL with fatigue and frailty in autologous HSCT participants pre- and post-HSCT.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Understanding the impact of frailty on fatigue and QoL in HSCT recipients is critical to assist nurses in initiating educational and behavioral interventions to help mitigate the effects of HSCT.

Volume

45

Issue

2

First Page

552

Last Page

552

ISSN

1538-9804

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

34310384

Department(s)

Department of Medicine, Hematology-Medical Oncology Division

Document Type

Article

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