Psychological and biological aspects of chronic fatigue among long-time survivors of cancer, 2005

The main object of this project is to examine the relationships between various psychological problems that are frequently reported in our samples of long-term survivors of cancer. We will investigate immunological parameters for possible biological correlates. To know what's specific for long-term survivors, we compare survivor data to general population data when possible. Thus, this project is divided into three sub goals: 1) Data not included: To investigate possible associations between symptoms of chronic fatigue and a wide variety of relevant variables among long-term survivors of testicular cancer (N=1,431). Fatigue scores among testicular cancer survivors are compared to norm data from 1996 (Loge, 1998) 2) To investigate possible associations between symptoms of chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety and levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and cortisol in serum among long-term survivors of Testicular Cancer (N= 291). 3) To investigate possible associations between symptoms of chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety and levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and cortisol in serum among long-term survivors of Breast Cancer (N= 315)

本项目的核心研究目标为探析癌症长期幸存者样本中频发的各类心理问题之间的关联。本研究将检测免疫学指标，以探寻潜在的生物学关联因子。为明确癌症长期幸存者的特异性表现，在条件允许的情况下，将幸存者数据与普通人群对照数据进行对比。据此，本项目分为三个子研究目标：
1. 相关数据未纳入本项目数据集：针对1431名睾丸癌长期幸存者，探讨慢性疲劳（chronic fatigue）症状与各类相关变量间的潜在关联。将睾丸癌幸存者的疲劳评分与1996年的常模数据（norm data，Loge, 1998）进行对比。
2. 针对291名睾丸癌长期幸存者，探讨慢性疲劳、抑郁、焦虑症状与血清促炎细胞因子（pro-inflammatory cytokines）及皮质醇（cortisol）水平之间的潜在关联。
3. 针对315名乳腺癌长期幸存者，探讨慢性疲劳、抑郁、焦虑症状与血清促炎细胞因子及皮质醇水平之间的潜在关联。