Abstract
Objective: To determine the prevalence and severity of immobilism syndrome (IS) and its association with symptoms, adverse events and functional losses in hospitalized cancer patients. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in patients hospitalized in tertiary oncology institution. As tools for analysis of the proposed outcomes, we used the severity classification of IS, the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the Fatigue Pictogram (FP) and the International Classification of Functionality (ICF). The level of significance used in the analysis of the association of the variables was 5%. Results: The prevalence of IS in hospitalized cancer patients was 52% [0.44; 0.60] and 15% [0.09; 0.58] for clinically relevant IS. IS showed significant association with muscle weakness(OR=5.17;CI95%=[1.93;14.60]), high stress intensity (OR=5.5; CI95% [1.96;17.50]) and moderate (OR=3.56;CI95%[1.57;8.58]) and high intensity fatigue (OR=7.75;CI95%=[1.92; 52.20]). The progressive severity of IS was correlated with the progressive intensity of fatigue and stress to VAS, intensity and impact of fatigue on daily activities by FP and also in functional capacity by ICF. Conclusion: IS has a significant prevalence in hospitalized cancer patients and its presence and severity correlate with fatigue, stress and functional losses.