A Retrospective Examination of Symptoms Experienced by Patients Diagnosed with Lymphoma, Reasons for Hospital Admission, Hospitalization, and Hospital Treatments

INTRODUCTION: Background: An evaluation of the symptoms experienced by patients with lymphoma, the reasons for admission and hospitalization, and the treatments admitted in the hospital are important in terms of determining the care programs to be applied.Aim: This study aimed to examine the symptoms experienced by patients diagnosed with lymphoma, reasons for hospital admission, hospitalization, and hospital treatments.
METHODS: Methods: This retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted by examining the data of 121 patients over 18 years of age with lymphoma who were admitted to a university hospital between 2018 and 2020. Demographic, disease, and treatment-related data were examined, and the common symptoms, hospital admissions, reasons for hospitalization, and treatments administered in the hospital were examined. Standard deviation, mean, frequency, percentage, and chi-square test were used to evaluate the data.
RESULTS: Results: The mean age of patients was 53.63 ± 16.41 years, 67.8% of patients were male, 66.9% admitted to the hematology outpatient clinic and 33.1% to the emergency service, and 66.9% were hospitalized. The most common symptoms experienced by lymphoma patients related to the disease and treatment were fatigue (35.5%), fever (33.1%), and pain (19.8%). The most common reasons for hospitalization were febrile neutropenia (P = .424), anemia (P = .569), and low immunoglobulin G (P = .833). Antibiotics (P = .007), granulocyte-stimulating factor (P = .310), and erythrocyte transfusion (P = .336) were the most common treatments for patients.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Conclusion: The results were obtained that lymphoma patients experienced symptoms associated with the disease and treatment, and therefore, most of them were hospitalized and treated. Within the scope of nursing care for lymphoma patients, it was recommended that current nursing interventions should be planned primarily for managing fatigue, fever, pain symptoms, febrile neutropenia, and anemia and monitoring the side effects of immunoglobulin G depletion.