CAUTIONUS Survey Among Patients with Cancer: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Cancer is the second most leading cause for death, next to cardiac diseases. People living with cancer experience a wide variety of symptoms due to disease severity and also various treatment modalities. If symptoms are not managed well, the functional ability of the patient’s daily activity is greatly impaired. The main objective of this study was to assess the pattern of CAUTIONUS characteristics and its severity with commonly diagnosed cancer patients. A retrospective study design was used; data were collected from the patients who were diagnosed with cancer and receiving chemotherapy in oncology ward. By convenient sampling technique, 150 samples were selected for the study. Among them, 58.7% patients were females and 41.3% were males. Gastrointestinal tract cancer (19.3%) breast cancer (18.6%), and head and neck cancer (14.6%) are the cancers occurred most frequently. 25.3% of patients had the problem in their bowel and bladder patterns. 15% of patients had oral ulcer and 9.3% of patients had severe pain and itching in the oral cavity. 39% of patients had vaginal bleeding, 15% of patients had rectal bleeding and 14% of patients had hemetemesis. 26% of patients had the problem of difficulty in swallowing and 13.3% of them had the problem of indigestion. 15% of patients had changes in their skin but they did not experience any difficulties. 17.3% of patients had hoarseness of voice and 14% of patients had persistent cough. Almost 76% of patients were experiencing severe anemia and felt tired and 80% of patients had severe weight loss. This study brought out the alarm signs (CAUTIONUS) of severity among the cancer patients. Nearly 52% of patients seek medical advice when their symptoms start to burden more; hence there is a necessity to evaluate the people in the community itself. Timely referral, psychological support, early recognition and treatment of symptoms are farthermost important in cancer patients’ care.