Future research involving cancer-related fatigue must also include more exhaustive studies on the prevalence of fatigue in more complex environs that are characterized by a wide range of diseases and settings. Other requisites include longitudinal studies. Valuable prevalence data can be potentially extracted from studies that focus on health-related quality of life, common symptom surveys and treatment trials. For this, we need to devise a method to compare results derived from studies that use different assessment tools. Further research is required to explain the clinical importance of the fatigue scores that were obtained with the help of these tools.
There is ample preliminary evidence to confirm randomized controlled trials focusing on a number of interventions for fatigue related to cancer, including exercise regimens, stimulant medications and psychosocial interventions. More observational studies and laboratory research on the physiology of cancer-related fatigue are required to be able to develop rational hypotheses for potential future intervention trials. Clinical trials that focus on cancer-related fatigue should deploy appropriate study designs, including the potential identification of desired outcomes and sample sizes that are calculated to allow a logical likelihood of detecting those outcomes.
In all of the topics discussed in this evidence report, what is lacking are the studies on the pediatric population. Research is required on an urgent basis to address symptoms of pain, fatigue and depression in children.
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