Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2014
ReviewSymptom clusters in patients with advanced cancer: a systematic review of observational studies.
Advanced cancer patients typically experience multiple symptoms, which may influence patient outcomes synergistically. The composition of these symptom clusters (SCs) differs depending on various clinical variables and the timing and method of their assessment. ⋯ Although the articles reviewed revealed four groups of symptoms that tended to cluster, there is limited consistency in the way in which SCs and variables associated with them are identified. This is largely due to a lack of agreement about a robust, clinically relevant definition of SCs. Future research should focus on patients' subjective experience of SCs to inform a clinically relevant definition of SCs and how they are managed over time.