ArticleTrends in cancer research2017
Prognostic significance of baseline fatigue for overall survival: A patient-level meta-analysis of 43 oncology clinical trials with 3915 patients.
Article in Trends in cancer research, 2017. 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, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the role of health-related quality of life measures in predictive modelling for oncology: a systematic review.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025Pooled it
- Cognitive Behavior vs Bright Light Therapy for Insomnia in Women Undergoing Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- Effect of acupuncture on fatigue in cancer survivors with chronic pain: a secondary analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Trial
- Mapping Physical Fitness Assessments in Interventional Research Among Breast Cancer Survivors: A Scoping Review.Cancers · 2026Review
- Concordance of symptoms perceived by patients receiving haemodialysis and those reported by nurses and nephrologists: a cross-sectional, multicentre, observational study using the REIN registry.Clinical kidney journal · 2025Article
- Shared decision making in routine oncology appointments with Black patients with lung cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Observational
- Article
- The impact of neoadjuvant relugolix on multi-dimensional patient-reported fatigue.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Article
- Racial and ethnic inequities of palliative care use among advanced Non-Small cell lung cancer patients in the US.Cancer medicine · 2023Article
- Prevalence and correlates of cancer-related fatigue in breast cancer survivors.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Observational
- Patient-reported outcome measures in hemodialysis patients: results of the first multicenter cross-sectional ePROMs study in France.BMC nephrology · 2021Observational
- Association of Fatigue and Outcomes in Advanced Cancer: An Analysis of Four SWOG Treatment Trials.JCO oncology practice · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
We have previously identified a single-item measure for baseline overall quality of life (QOL) as a strong prognostic factor for survival, and that fatigue was an important component of patient QOL. To explore whether patient-reported fatigue was supplemental or redundant to the prognostic information of overall QOL, we performed a patient-level pooled analysis of 43 North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) and Mayo Clinic Cancer Center (MCCC) oncology clinical trials assessing the effect of baseline fatigue on overall survival (OS). 3,915 patients participating in 43 trials provided data at baseline for fatigue on a single-item 0-100 point scale. OS was tested for association with clinically deficient fatigue (CDF, score 0-50, n = 1,497) versus not clinically deficient fatigue (nCDF, score 51-100, n = 2,418). We explored whether fatigue contributed to overall survival in the presence of performance status and overall QOL. We used Cox proportional hazards models that adjusted for the effects of overall QOL, performance score, race, disease site, age and gender. Baseline fatigue was a strong predictor of OS for the entire patient cohort (CDF vs. nCDF: 31.5 months vs > 83.9 months, p < 0.0001). The effect sizes of fatigue on survival were more variable across different disease sites than was seen for overall QOL (GI, esophageal, head and neck, prostate, lung, breast and others). After controlling for covariates, including performance status and overall QOL, baseline fatigue remained a strong prognostic factor in multivariate models (CDF vs. nCDF: HR = 1.23, p = 0.02). Baseline fatigue is a strong and independent prognostic factor for OS over and above performance status (PS) and overall QOL in a wide variety of oncology patient populations. Single-item measures of overall QOL and fatigue can help to identify vulnerable subpopulations among cancer patients. We recommend these single-item measures for routine inclusion as a stratification factor or key covariate in the design and analysis of oncology treatment trials.
Indexed as
Identifiers
31213748PMC6580855W3024779615What 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.