Objective:

To evaluate symptoms among patients with abdominal cancer and associated factors.

Materials and methods:

A cross-sectional study with 100 patients. The prevalence of symptoms was evaluated through the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS) and its association with demographic and clinical variables using chi-square and ANOVA tests.

Results:

The most prevalent symptoms were weight loss (64.0 %), pain (56.0 %), dry mouth (50.0 %), “I do not look more myself” (48.0 %) and lack of energy (45.0 %). There was a significant difference between sex and high-frequency (PHYS-H) (p = 0.001) and low-frequency (PHYS-L) physical symptoms (p = 0.004), and for general scale (TMSAS) (p = 0.002); (p = 0.001), general range (p = 0.027) and borderline significance for the global scale (GDI) (p = 0.051); high-frequency physical symptoms (p = 0.022), low-frequency physical symptoms (p = 0.034) and the overall scale (p = 0.034). There was one major complaint regarding the severity of high-frequency physical symptoms in patients with liver cancer (p = 0.018).

Conclusion:

Symptoms of physical and psychological aspects in cancer patients were associated with gender, race, marital status and tumor location. There is a need for tools to assess symptoms and enable health professionals to intervene more effectively.

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