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Symptom Distress Profiles in Hospitalized Patients in Sweden: A Cross‐Sectional Study
Author(s) -
Henoch Ingela,
Sawatzky Richard,
Falk Hanna,
Fridh Isabell,
Jakobsson Ung Eva,
Sarenmalm Elisabeth Kenne,
Ozanne Anneli,
Öhlén Joakim,
Falk Kristin
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.21624
Subject(s) - medicine , distress , cross sectional study , medical diagnosis , latent class model , physical therapy , psychiatry , clinical psychology , pathology , statistics , mathematics
Symptom distress profiles of patients with a variety of diagnoses at two hospitals in Sweden were examined using a point‐prevalence cross‐sectional survey design. The sample included 710 patients present on internal medicine, surgery, geriatric, and oncology acute care hospital wards of each hospital on a single day. Symptom distress data were collected via structured interviews using a 0–10 numeric rating scale (NRS). Fatigue was the most prevalent symptom, experienced by 76.2% of the patients, followed by pain (65.2%) and sleeping difficulties (52.8%). Symptoms were fairly distressing (median NRS 5–6). Patients experiencing high distress from fatigue and pain were more likely to be female, living alone, and to have more symptoms. Latent class analysis revealed three symptom distress profiles that differed with respect to the degree of distress and number of symptoms. The profiles were not substantially differentiated by diagnoses. Symptom distress needs to be assessed and treated on an individual basis, rather than predicting distress levels based on diagnosis alone. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.