Final answer:
Common symptoms in the last year of life include pain, fatigue, and shortness of breath, with pain affecting approximately 70% of individuals. Symptoms like weight loss and night sweats are critical in disease diagnosis, particularly in cancer. Late diagnosis of conditions like lung cancer, a leading cause of cancer-related deaths, is common due to symptoms that often go unnoticed until the disease has advanced.
Step-by-step explanation:
Three symptoms commonly experienced in the last year of life include pain, fatigue, and shortness of breath. These symptoms are prevalent at varying percentages among those nearing the end of life. Pain, which is experienced by approximately 70% of individuals, is a significant symptom, while fatigue and shortness of breath are reported by 60% and 50% respectively. Additionally, weakness and the inability to cope with minor stress, leading to crises and possibly death, are symptoms observed in patients.
Patient B's symptoms such as weight loss, profuse sweating, and increased heart rate, could indicate the presence of serious health issues including cancer, evidenced by the statistics showing that lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths at 31%. Symptoms are subjective and can be challenging to measure; hence, scales like the Wong-Baker Faces pain-rating scale or skin conductance fluctuations measurements can be used to assess symptoms quantitatively.
Signs such as unusual lumps, bleeding, and enlarged lymph nodes, along with symptoms like weight loss, poor appetite, excessive sweating (night sweats), and anemia, play a critical role in diagnosing diseases such as cancer. Furthermore, most lung cancer cases cannot be cured due to late diagnosis, and common symptoms like cough and hemoptysis are often not noticeable until advanced stages.