The effects of cancer-related pain and fatigue on functioning of older adult, long-term cancer survivors

This research examines the fatigue and pain reported by a sample of long-term (5 years), older adult ( :60 years) survivors of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer. It also examines the importance of cancer and age-related factors as correlates of pain and fatigue as well as the relationship between pain and fatigue and functional difficulty. Data were derived from 321 in-person interviews with a sample of survivors randomly selected from a tumor registry at a comprehensive cancer center. The results of multivariate analysis indicate that the pain, energy level, and weakness reported by older adult cancer survivors are more strongly related to age-related factors than they are to cancer-related factors. Age-related factors accounted for 14% of the variance in pain compared with 2% for cancer-related factors. For energy level, age-related factors explained 4% of the variance, whereas cancer-related factors account for 2%. Age-related factors accounted for 9% of the variance in weakness compared with 6% for cancer-related factors. Furthermore, pain, energy, and weakness are all statistically significant predictor s of functional difficulties (P =.20, -.16, and.11, respectively). Age-related factors explained 21 % of the total variance, whereas cancer-related factors contributed 6%. This research points to the fact that both cancer and age-related factors contribute to the pain and fatigue of older adult survivors, although factors such as comorbidites and noricancer symptoms appear to be relatively more important. Because it is not unusual for those providing health care to older adults to be unaware of their cancer history and treatments, the role that cancer may play in symptoms such pain and fatigue may go unassessed and unaddressed.