Kudos to Yufen Lin, PhD student, and her sponsor Chip Bailey, associate professor, for the submission of her Heilbrunn Nurse Scholar Award application entitled “Distinct Morning Fatigue, Evening Fatigue, and Sleep Disturbance Profiles in Patients with Gastrointestinal Cancers Receiving Chemotherapy.” This proposal requests funding for a 1-year period with a start date of May 1, 2020.

Abstract:

The American Cancer Society estimates that 333,680 new cases of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers will be diagnosed in 2020 and approximately 167,790 patients will die from their disease. Morning fatigue, evening fatigue, and sleep disturbance are the most common and disabling symptoms among patients with GI cancers. There is a lack of understanding of inter-individual variability and symptom phenotypes of these symptoms among patients with GI cancers. The purposes of this study are to identify subgroups of patients based on their distinct symptom profiles and evaluate for differences among these subgroups in demographic, clinical, and symptom characteristics and quality of life (QOL) outcomes.