Symptom Experience in the Last Year of Life Among Individuals with Cancer

Individuals with cancer often experience many symptoms that impair their quality of life at the end of life. This study examines symptom experience at end of life among individuals with cancer, and determines if symptom experience changes with proximity to death, or differs by depressive symptomatology, sex, site of cancer, or age. A secondary analysis of data from three prospective, descriptive, longitudinal studies (n = 174) was performed, using a three-level hierarchical linear model. Fatigue, weakness, pain, shortness of breath, and cough were the five most prevalent symptoms in the last year of life. The symptom experience in the last year of life was significantly associated with site of cancer, depressive symptomatology, dependencies in activities of daily living, and independent activities of daily living at the start of the study. These findings shed light on the symptom experience in the last year of life for individuals with cancer. With greater understanding of the symptom experience, intervention strategies can be targeted to achieve the desired outcome of increased quality of life at the end of life.