The most prevalent and longest lasting of these effects is fatigue. Cancer-related fatigue is most often caused by anemia, a condition where the quantity of red blood cells is lowered, thereby preventing sufficient oxygen from reaching organs and tissues.
Anemia can be a side effect of cancer, but is commonly caused by chemotherapy, a cancer treatment.
Greater than 50 percent of all chemotherapy treated patients experience anemia. Chemotherapy reduces bone marrow's ability to produce red blood cells, which makes chemotherapy patients more likely to become anemic. Symptoms of anemia include extreme weakness, shortness of breath, and dizziness or fainting, making physical and mental fatigue inevitable. Furthermore, women who suffered from fatigue said that fatigue interferes with their lives more than any other treatment-related side effect. Fatigue weighs heavily on the overall quality of life, and becomes an obstacle to maintaining daily activities.