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Annals of Oncology Advance Access published online on August 4, 2008
Annals of Oncology, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdn537
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

review

A systematic review of the scales used for the measurement of cancer-related fatigue (CRF)

O. Minton* and P. Stone

Division of Mental Health, St George's University of London, London, UK

* Correspondence to: Dr O. Minton, Division of Mental Health, 6th Floor Hunter Wing, St Georges University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 ORE, UK. Tel: +44 02087252620; Fax: +44 02087255358; E-mail: ominton{at}sgul.ac.uk

Background: Fatigue in cancer is very common and can be experienced at all stages of disease and in survivors. There is no accepted definition of cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and no agreement on how it should be measured. A number of scales have been developed to quantify the phenomenon of CRF. These vary in the quality of psychometric properties, ease of administration, dimensions of CRF covered and extent of use in studies of cancer patients. This review seeks to identify the available tools for measuring CRF and to make recommendations for ongoing research into CRF.

Methods: A systematic review methodology was used to identify scales that have been validated to measure CRF. The inclusion criteria required the scale to have been validated for use in cancer patients and/or widely used in this population. Scales also had to meet a minimum quality score for inclusion.

Results: The reviewers identified 14 scales that met the inclusion criteria. The most commonly used scales and best validated were the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Fatigue (FACT F), the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ C30) (fatigue subscale) and the Fatigue Questionnaire (FQ).

Conclusions: Unidimensional scales are the easiest to administer and have been most widely used. The authors recommend the use of the EORTC QLQ C30 fatigue subscale or the FACT F. The FQ gives a multidimensional assessment and has also been widely used. A substantial minority of the scales identified have not been used extensively or sufficiently validated in cancer patients and cannot be recommended for routine use without further validation.

cancer-related fatigue, measurement scales, systematic review

Received for publication April 9, 2008. Revision received May 16, 2008. Revision received June 27, 2008. Accepted for publication June 30, 2008.


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