CLINICAL NEWS
Severe Fatigue Affects Survival and Social
Reintegration for Hodgkin Lymphoma Survivors
Approximately 40 percent of
patients with Hodgkin lymphoma
(HL) experience persistent
fatigue, a chronic symptom that
can affect patients years after
successful treatment. In a large,
prospective study published in
the Journal of Clinical Oncology,
researchers characterized fatigue
and its effects on the daily lives
of nearly 4,000 patients with HL,
finding that baseline severe fatigue
negatively affected survival,
employment, and financial
status as long as nine years after
treatment.
Karolin Behringer, MD, of the
University Hospital of Cologne in
Germany, and authors analyzed
patient-reported, health-related
quality-of-life (QOL) data for
4,529 patients with HL (18-60
years) who were enrolled in the
German Hodgkin Study Group’s
fifth generation of clinical trials
(HD13, HD14, and HD15)
between January 28, 2003, and
September 30, 2009.
Patients completed the
following questionnaires:
• Quali