Patient expectation is a strong predictor of severe nausea after chemotherapy: a University of Rochester Community Clinical Oncology Program study of patients with breast carcinoma.

Background: Patients may use their past experiences with nausea, as well as information about the incidence of nausea from chemotherapy that other patients have experienced, to form a prediction, or response expectancy, of nausea from their own upcoming chemotherapy. Mounting evidence suggests that these expectancies relating to nausea are significant predictors, and, likely, contributing factors to the development of treatment-related nausea.

Methods: The patients in the current study were participants in the control arm of a multicenter clinical trial conducted between November 1999 and July 2001 by the University of Rochester Community Clinical Oncology Program.