The core symptom in multiple myeloma patients undergoing chemotherapy: a network analysis

BACKGROUND: During chemotherapy for multiple myeloma, symptoms include those related to the disease, as well as adverse effects of the treatment. Few studies have explored the relationships between these symptoms. Network analysis could identify the core symptom in the symptom network. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the core symptom in multiple myeloma patients undergoing chemotherapy. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study in which sequential sampling was used to recruit 177 participants from Hunan, China. Demographic and clinical characteristics were surveyed using a self-developed instrument. The symptoms of chemotherapy-treated multiple myeloma, including pain, fatigue, worry, nausea, and vomiting, were measured using a questionnaire with good reliability and validity. The mean ± SD, frequency, and percentages were used as descriptive statistics. Network analysis was used to estimate the correlation between symptoms. RESULTS: The results showed that 70% of multiple myeloma patients using chemotherapy exhibited pain. In the network analysis, worrying was the dominant symptom, and the strongest relationship was between nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy-treated multiple myeloma patients’ symptoms. CONCLUSION: Worrying is the core symptom of multiple myeloma patients. Interventions could be most effective if there is a symptom management focus on worrying when providing care to chemotherapy-treated multiple myeloma patients. Nausea combined with vomiting could be better managed, which would decrease the cost of health care. Understanding the relationship between the symptoms of multiple myeloma patients undergoing chemotherapy is beneficial for precise symptom management. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Nurses and health care teams should be a priority to intervene in the worrying for chemotherapy-treated multiple myeloma patients to maximize the effectiveness of an intervention. Except, nausea and vomiting should be managed together in a clinical setting. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00520-023-07759-7.