Fatigue in Emergency Center Patients

July 26, 2012 updated by: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Fatigue and Its Symptom Cluster Related to Inflammatory Cytokine Profiles in Cancer Patients Seeking Emergency Care

  1. To describe fatigue severity and its related symptom clusters in cancer patients who are seeking emergency care for fever, pain, shortness of breath, or cancer therapy-related gastrointestinal toxicities.
  2. To describe inflammatory cytokine profiles in cancer patients who are seeking emergency care for fever, pain, shortness of breath, or cancer therapy-related gastrointestinal toxicities.
  3. To determine the type of cytokines that are associated with fatigue severity in cancer patients, with or without cancer treatment, in the early phase of infection, as well as in patients with pain, shortness of breath, or cancer therapy-related gastrointestinal toxicities.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

One of the ways to learn about the symptoms of cancer and the effect of cancer treatment is by rating how severe symptoms are and how they interfere with daily activity. Researchers can also compare these ratings to the levels of certain proteins called cytokines that are found in the blood while the patient is experiencing symptoms.

If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to complete 2 surveys during your Emergency Center visit. One survey will measure physical and mental symptoms (such as sadness or distress). The other survey will ask you for personal "demographic" information (such as your age and marital status). Completing the questionnaires will take about 10-15 minutes. During the Emergency Center visit, about 1 tablespoon of blood will be drawn for cytokine testing.

Research staff will also collect other information from your medical record, clinical information, and lab results. This information may include cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, performance status (your ability to perform daily activities), disease status, and any medications you are taking at that time.

This is an investigational study. About 520 patients will participate in this study. All will be enrolled at M. D. Anderson.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

14

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • U.T.M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Cancer patients admitted to the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center Emergency Center who are seeking emergency care for fever, pain, shortness of breath, or cancer therapy-related gastrointestinal toxicities.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients must be admitted to the Emergency Center with a diagnosis of cancer confirmed by pathology (either hematologic malignancies or solid tumors).
  2. Patients with either hematologic malignancies or solid tumors must either be currently undergoing active cancer treatment (received chemotherapy, radiotherapy, chemoradiotherapy, blood or bone morrow transplant, surgery, immunotherapy anytime during the past month) or not receiving any cancer treatments in past month.
  3. Patient's chief complaint upon admission to the EC must be one or more of the following four conditions: a. fever (38.3°C or higher) in past 24 hours b. pain c.any chemotherapy-related GI toxicities (such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation) d.shortness of breath
  4. Patients must be able to read and write English
  5. Patients must agree to participate and must sign the Informed Consent
  6. Patients must be 18 years or older (minimal numbers of children are evaluated in the EC)
  7. Patients must be able to complete the survey tool independently (without input or influence from their caregivers).
  8. Patients whose performance status allows them to complete the survey (i.e., patients who do not have altered mental/cognitive status, and patients without emergent illness and hemodynamic instability---for example, status epilepticus, sepsis, cardiac arrest, and any life-threatening condition).

Exclusion Criteria:

1) Patients who were already enrolled on this protocol in a previous visit to this EC will not be enrolled again, regardless of their reasons for the current EC visit (same or different reason).

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Fatigue in Emergency Center Patients
2 surveys, taking about 10-15 minutes each, during Emergency Center visit
Other Names:
  • Questionniare

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Patient Fatigue Severity Scores Assessed With MDASI
Time Frame: Survey and blood draw done within 24 hours of patient's Emergency Center visit
Descriptive factor and cluster analysis using MD Anderson Symptom Index (MDASI) 13 core symptom items to form 1) treatment-related factor (nausea and vomiting) and 2) general severity factor (the remaining 11 core symptom items). Patients rate intensity and interference of symptoms on 0-10 numeric scales from "not present" to "as bad as you can imagine." Patients also rate the amount of interference with daily activities caused by symptoms on 0-10 numeric scales from "did not interfere" to "interfered completely."
Survey and blood draw done within 24 hours of patient's Emergency Center visit

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

August 1, 2005

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2008

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 18, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 18, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

July 20, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 1, 2012

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 26, 2012

Last Verified

July 1, 2012

More Information

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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