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Table 3 Under- and overestimation of symptoms by health care providers as compared to patients

From: Health care providers underestimate symptom intensities of cancer patients: A multicenter European study

Symptom (difference)

Health care provider underestimation

Good agreement

Health care provider overestimation

 

-3

-2

%

0

± 1

%

2

3

%

Pain

28

148

9.2

904

822

90.0

16

0

0.8

Fatigue

32

226

13.4

795

838

84.9

30

2

1.7

Generalized weakness

26

178

10.6

781

883

86.8

44

4

2.5

Anorexia

127

243

19.4

865

636

78.5

33

8

2.1

Depression

50

149

10.4

1028

652

88.1

28

1

1.5

Constipation

66

156

11.6

1101

570

87.2

21

3

1.3

Poor sleep

46

150

10.2

1037

649

88.0

26

7

1.7

Dyspnea

41

153

10.1

1127

577

88.8

17

5

1.1

Nausea

50

149

10.3

1177

534

88.9

13

1

0.7

Vomiting

39

87

6.5

1445

346

93.0

8

0

0.4

Diarrhea

33

106

7.3

1465

307

92.5

4

1

0.3

  1. Number and percentage of patient-provider pairs with symptom scores showing good agreement (health care provider minus patient score within ± 1), considerable underestimation (health care provider minus patient score ≤ -2) and considerable overestimation (health care provider minus patient score ≥ 2).