Dehydration and symptom distress.

Abstract

Dehydration is a common problem during chemotherapy and may contribute to symptom distress. Previous research has not studied symptom distress in healthy adults who are dehydrated. The specific aims of this research were to determine if measures of hydration detect mild dehydration; if symptom distress scales detect changes in symptom distress experienced during mild dehydration; and if a relationship exists between symptom distress and mild dehydration. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest comparison group design, 24 healthy women between the ages of 19 and 38 years participated in this study. Eleven women participated in a 48-hour fluid restriction regimen to induce mild dehydration. As determined by ANCOVA, hours thirsty, weight, urine specific gravity, urine osmolality, serum osmolality, urine:serum osmolality ratio, BUN, and BUN:creatinine ratio; identified statistically (p $<$.005) significant differences in adjusted means between the two groups and identified that dehydration occurred following the fluid restriction regimen. The Symptom Distress Scale (SDS) and the Symptom Profile Scale (SPS) identified statistically (p $<$.03) significant differences in adjusted means between the two groups and identified that symptom distress increased following the fluid restriction regimen. There was a significant positive linear relationship predicting the SDS score (r = 0.49) and the SPS score (r = 0.59) from the number of hours a subject was thirsty. There was a negative significant relationship (r = $-$.58) predicting SDS score from vein emptying time. There was a positive (r =.48) significant linear relationship predicting SPS score from BUN. The number of hours the subjects were thirsty accounted for 34% of the variance in SPS score. Vein emptying time accounted for 33% of the variance in the SDS score. These results show that noninvasive clinical measures of hydration are useful in detecting mild dehydration. Future research is needed to clarify the relationship between dehydration and symptom distress in patients receiving treatments, such as cancer chemotherapy, and to study possible interventions for promoting adequate hydration to minimize symptom distress.