Fatigue Major Side Effect of Anti-Leukemia Drug Dexamethasone

New research from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital found that an often used anti-leukemia drug called dexamethasone increases tiredness in children who are using the drug. However, researchers hope that by altering how the drug is administered, these symptoms can be minimized.

"Now that we have demonstrated that dexamethasone is so disruptive of sleep and causes profound fatigue in children with ALL, we will study ways to reduce these troublesome side effects, while still allowing the patients to get full benefit of the treatment," said Ching-Hon Pui, M.D., chair of the St. Jude Department of Oncology in a press release. "This would help us continue to improve the already high quality of care we provide to children with ALL."

The children in this study were all being treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia with the anti-leukemia drug dexamethasone. It focused on one hundred patients with an average age of nine who had been diagnosed with leukemia.

For the study, the children's sleep patterns were monitored during two five day periods. In the first five day period, they did not receive dexamethasone. In the second period, the children received normal doses of the drug. In the study, researchers found patient's taking the drug took more naps, woke during nighttime sleep, and had increased restlessness during sleeping.

These findings suggest that doctors should carefully discuss with the child and his family the affects of the drug and ways to address poor quality of sleep issues and overall fatigue.

"Parents and patients have long reported altered behaviors during dexamethasone treatment, but this is the first trial to document that disrupted sleep and fatigue are behavioral indicators of patients response to the treatment," said Pamela Hinds, Ph.D., R.N., director of the Division of Nursing Research at St. Jude in a press release.