Consistency of Symptom Clusters in Advanced Cancer

摘要: Background: The reproducibility of symptom clusters (SCs) in different populations would support the validity cluster concept. Ideal approaches to identification are unknown. presence a sentinel (most prevalent) may reduce number symptoms comprehensive assessment tool. primary purpose was assess consistency SCs between 2 independent data sets. A secondary aim evaluate whether use might abbreviate but retain acceptable accuracy. Methods: An agglomerative hierarchical analysis 922 patients with advanced cancer identified 7 SCs. We conducted same on an additional 181 consistency. most prevalent within each defined as ‘‘sentinel’’ symptom. Positive predictive value (PPV) and negative (NPV) were calculated ability predict other cluster. Results: Similar clust...