Trial reportJournal of palliative medicine2012
Determination of cutpoints for low and high number of symptoms in patients with advanced cancer.
Trial report in Journal of palliative medicine, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The efficacy of web or mobile-based interventions to alleviate emotional symptoms in people with advanced cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022Pooled it
- Comparison of four brief depression screening instruments in ovarian cancer patients: Diagnostic accuracy using traditional versus alternative cutpoints.Gynecologic oncology · 2017Trial
- Distinct Symptom Profiles in Younger and Older Patients With Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy.Cancer medicine · 2026Article
- Greater Symptom Burden and Poorer Quality of Life Outcomes Are Associated With The Co-Occurrence of Anxiety and Depression During Cancer Chemotherapy.Seminars in oncology nursing · 2025Article
- Symptom burden among men treated for castration-resistant prostate cancer: a longitudinal study.BMJ supportive & palliative care · 2024Article
- Predictors of Concordance between Patient-Reported and Provider-Documented Symptoms in the Context of Cancer and Multimorbidity.Applied clinical informatics · 2024Article
- The association of perceived cannabis risks and benefits with cannabis use since cancer diagnosis.Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Monographs · 2024Article
- Natural Language Processing Accurately Differentiates Cancer Symptom Information in Electronic Health Record Narratives.JCO clinical cancer informatics · 2024Article
- A Preliminary Validation of an Optimal Cutpoint in Total Number of Patient-Reported Symptoms in Head and Neck Cancer for Effective Alignment of Clinical Resources with Patients' Symptom Burden.Cancer care research online · 2024Article
- Patient-clinician communication and patient-centered outcomes among patients with suspected stage I non-small cell lung cancer: a prospective cohort study.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2022Article
- Determination of Cutpoints for Symptom Burden in Oncology Patients Receiving Chemotherapy.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2022Article
- Changes in the Occurrence, Severity, and Distress of Symptoms in Patients With Gastrointestinal Cancers Receiving Chemotherapy.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2018Article
- Advancing Symptom Science Through Symptom Cluster Research: Expert Panel Proceedings and Recommendations.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
While patients with advanced cancer experience a wide range of symptoms, no work has been done to determine an optimal cutpoint for a low versus a high number of symptoms. Analytic approaches that established clinically meaningful cutpoints for the severity of cancer pain and fatigue provided the foundation for this study. The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal cutpoint for low and high numbers of symptoms using a range of potential cutpoints and to determine if those cutpoints distinguished between the two symptom groups on demographic and clinical characteristics and depression, anxiety, and quality of life (QOL). Patients with advanced cancer (n=110) completed a symptom assessment scale, and measures of depression, anxiety, and QOL. Combinations of cutpoints were tested to yield one- and two-cutpoint solutions. Using analysis of variance for QOL scores, the F-ratio that indicated the highest between-group difference was determined to be the optimal cutpoint between low and high number of symptoms. A cutpoint of ≤ 12 symptoms (i.e., 0-12 is low, 13-32 is high) was the optimal cutpoint for total number of symptoms. Significant differences in depression, anxiety, and QOL scores validated this cutpoint. Psychological symptoms had higher occurrence rates in the high symptom group. Findings suggest that a threshold exists between a low and a high number of symptoms in patients with advanced cancer. Psychological symptoms were significantly different between patients in the low versus high symptom groups and may play an important role in QOL outcomes in patients with advanced cancer.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.