Three quarters of them even complain of intense fatigue, even very intense, linked to chemotherapy. According to the survey, fatigue is the side effect that most affects the lives of cancer patients for 98% of doctors and 99% of nurses.
Almost 4 out of 10 patients (37%) believe that fatigue is the side effect of chemotherapy that presents the most inconvenience in their daily life, ahead of hair loss (18%), nausea and vomiting ( 9%), and pain (6%).
The survey also reveals that more than 9 out of 10 cancer patients (93%) are satisfied with the quality of their relationship with nursing staff during the management and monitoring of their disease.
As for health professionals, 93% of doctors and 100% of nurses recognize the need to manage and treat fatigue in cancer patients. It is even a priority for 87% of doctors and 94% of nurses.
“Of all the anticancer treatments, chemotherapy is the most common source of anemia, sometimes resulting in a feeling of fatigue. The most common chemotherapy drugs used to treat breast or lung cancer, for example, are based on platinum salts, taxanes and anthracyclines, compounds known to cause anemia.“, explains Dr Frédéric Maloisel, hematologist at the oncology center of the Saint Anne clinic in Strasbourg.
