Symptoms

In healthcare, we tend to focus on the patient’s disease, rather than symptoms, though symptoms are central to the patient experience. Symptoms have been found in other settings to be poorly recognized and managed, yet drive healthcare utilization, cost, and patient satisfaction. In home healthcare (HHC) symptoms have not been deeply explored. We examined a 5% sample of 2011–2012 Medicare OASIS, MEDPAR, and Carrier file data (N=2,061,168) to better understand how symptoms effect care.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a common yet often unrecognized consequence of stroke, affecting between 25% and 70% of all survivors. Untreated depression post-stroke leads to a poorer prognosis and increased mortality. However, the pattern and profile of post-stroke depression in chronic stroke are poorly understood.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the independent predictors of depressive symptoms in chronic stroke.

Despite increased use of left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) in patients with advanced or end-stage heart failure; little is known about the reoccurrence of common heart failure symptoms (e.g., fatigue) after LVAD implantation. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and pattern of selected heart failure symptoms and identify changes in symptom patterns before and up to 6 months after LVAD implantation. We used self-report questionnaires to collect data from patients (n = 12) and measure symptoms at baseline, 1 and 2 weeks, and 1, 3, and 6 months after LVAD.

CONTEXT: Perceived cognitive impairment (PCI) has been shown to be one of the most common symptoms after breast cancer treatment. However, this symptom does not always correlate with objective cognitive performance and is often highly associated with other patient-reported symptoms.

  Purpose/Objectives: To present the novel Symptom Cluster Experience Profile (SCEP) framework for guiding symptom research in adult survivors of childhood cancers and other subgroups at risk for high symptom burden.

Throughout the history of the HIV epidemic, HIV-positive patients with relatively high CD4 counts and no clinical features of opportunistic infections have been classified as "asymptomatic" by definition and treatment guidelines. This classification, however, does not take into consideration the array of symptoms that an HIV-positive person can experience long before progressing to AIDS. This short report describes two international multi-site studies conducted in 2003-2005 and 2005-2007.

HIV-related fatigue is a debilitating and disabling symptom that persists for months and years. In 743 HIV/AIDS patients from Southern Africa, the authors found ratings of HIV-related fatigue to be highly prevalent. The authors conducted a secondary data analysis within the theoretical context of the University of California, San Francisco Symptom Management Model.