Determining priority symptoms of women with recurrent ovarian cancers: A Gynecologic Oncology Group study.

101 Background: The purpose of this study is to recommend a core set of priority symptoms to be assessed in research and clinical settings for women with recurrent ovarian cancers.

METHODS: We used baseline data of 497 women with recurrent ovarian, fallopian, or primary peritoneal cancer participating in a symptom management randomized clinical trial (GOG-0259) to identify a core index of patient-reported priority symptoms. We used the Symptom Representation Questionnaire to assess priority rankings of 28 symptoms based on four criteria: (1) symptom prevalence, (2) patient-reported symptom severity, (3) percentage of women identifying each symptom as one of top three symptoms "I would like to get better control over", and (4) the association between symptom severity and functional wellbeing as measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Ovarian. Final priority ranking included all symptoms that were ranked in the top 10 for any of the four criteria.

RESULTS: Of the original 28 symptoms, 19 were ranked in the top 10 for at least one criterion: fatigue, sleep disturbance, pain, anxiety, peripheral neuropathy, constipation, abdominal bloating, drowsiness, mood swings, memory problems, weight gain, nausea, sexual concerns, vomiting, hair loss, lymphedema, lack of appetite, shortness of breath, and depression. Fatigue, sleep disturbance, and pain were each ranked one of the top 10 symptoms for all four criteria. Anxiety, peripheral neuropathy, and constipation were each ranked in the top 10 for three of the 4 criteria.

CONCLUSIONS: We propose a core index of 19 patient-reported symptoms to be systematically assessed among patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. These symptoms are common, severe, poorly managed, and/or interfere with survivors' functioning and can be efficiently assessed in 1-2 minutes. Systematic assessment in clinical and research settings could advance understanding about the predictors and consequences of poorly managed symptoms and could lead to more proactive, personalized interventions to improve functional well-being in this at-risk patient population.