Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Fatigue in Cancer Patients in Palliative Care: A Review on Pharmacological Interventions.
Karolinska institutet; Stiftelsen Stockholms sjukhem.
Karolinska institutet; Stiftelsen Stockholms sjukhem.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8444-3623
Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Department of Health Care Sciences. Karolinska institutet.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0197-9121
Karolinska institutet; Stiftelsen Stockholms sjukhem.
2021 (English)In: Cancers, ISSN 2072-6694, Vol. 13, no 5, article id 985Article, review/survey (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Fatigue is one of the most distressing symptoms experienced by cancer patients. The suggested biological mechanism for cancer related fatigue (CRF) includes immune activation triggered by tumor tissue or by anticancer treatment but other mechanisms have also been proposed. Previous large meta-analysis of interventions on fatigue focuses mostly on patients early in the disease trajectory, with only one tenth of included studies performed in palliative cohorts. The aim of this narrative review is therefore to present a background on CRF with focus on the palliative setting. A summary of recent randomized, controlled trials on pharmacological interventions on CRF in palliative care is presented, including studies on psychostimulants, corticosteroids, testosterone and melatonin. Interestingly, in several of these studies there was a positive and similar effect on fatigue in both the intervention and the placebo arm-indicating an important placebo effect for any pharmacological treatment. In addition, studies on dietary supplements and on pharmacological complementary medicines are discussed. To conclude, the evidence is still weak for using pharmacological treatments on CRF in palliative care patients-although methylphenidate and corticosteroids might be considered.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. Vol. 13, no 5, article id 985
Keywords [en]
Cancer, Cancer related fatigue, Clinical trials, Fatigue, Palliative care, Therapeutics
National Category
Nursing Cancer and Oncology Pharmacology and Toxicology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:esh:diva-8664DOI: 10.3390/cancers13050985PubMedID: 33652866OAI: oai:DiVA.org:esh-8664DiVA, id: diva2:1535108
Available from: 2021-03-08 Created: 2021-03-08 Last updated: 2023-11-21Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMed

Authority records

Lundh Hagelin, Carina

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Helde Frankling, MariaLundh Hagelin, Carina
By organisation
Department of Health Care Sciences
In the same journal
Cancers
NursingCancer and OncologyPharmacology and Toxicology

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 164 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf