Fatigue in Lung Cancer Patients: a Systematic Review of Literature

Abstract

Introduction: The fatigue is a symptom of great impact on the quality of life of cancer patients, but it is rarely diagnosed and treated by health professionals. Objective: Summarize the main findings of researches and critically analyze the evidences relating to the identification of fatigue as adverse symptoms associated with lung cancer, from the national and international scientific production over the last five years. Method: The survey was conducted on the electronic databases MEDLINE, LILACS, PEDro and virtual library SciELO, using the following keywords and their synonyms: fatigue, fatigue related to cancer, lung cancer and palliative care, as well as their equivalents in English. Thirteen articles published on international journals were selected, categorized into two units of analysis – 1. Cultural and psychosocial aspects related to fatigue and 2. Fatigue as an adverse symptom of lung cancer - and their scientific evidence were analyzed. Results: There are evidences that lung cancer is associated to high burden of symptoms such as fatigue, whose presence influences the performance of daily activities, is related to the prediction of disease relapse, decreased survival and conducting assistance in emergency room or hospitalization at the end of life. Conclusion: The results showed a high prevalence of fatigue in this population and the need for further studies, with methodological designs of better quality and highest levels of scientific evidence results.