Fatigue has been identified as one of the most common and distressing problems for
people with cancer. Depending on treatment modality, 65-100% of patients will experience fatigue at some stage
during their
illness.
Fatigue is often the first sign of ill health
and so it may be perceived as a potent indicator of disease status throughout the illness
and, for some, on into survivorship. Whilst health professionals increasingly recognize
the impact of cancer-related fatigue on patients’ lives, fatigue continues to be poorly
defined and inadequately understood, despite a growth in the number of research studies
addressing this
issue.
As a result, the development of appropriate measurement
tools and effective interventions has been severely hampered. Nevertheless current evi-
dence suggests that fatigue transcends symptom boundaries, affecting all aspects of
patients’ lives.
