Epidemiology of mental health problems among patients with cancer during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore mental health problems in patients diagnosed with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cluster sampling, cross-sectional survey with 6213 cancer patients was conducted in one of the largest cancer centers in China. The socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, psychosomatic conditions, interpersonal relationships and social support, COVID-19 infection-related psychological stress, and mental health status were measured. Medical conditions were extracted from patients’ electronic healthcare records. Among the 6213 cancer patients, 23.4% had depression, 17.7% had anxiety, 9.3% had PTSD, and 13.5% had hostility. Hierarchical liner regression models showed that having a history of mental disorder, excessive alcohol consumption, having a higher frequency of worrying about cancer management due to COVID-19, having a higher frequency feeling of overwhelming psychological pressure from COVID-19, and having a higher level of fatigue and pain were the predominant risk factors for mental health problems in cancer patients. However, there were only 1.6% of them were seeking psychological counseling during COVID-19. We also revealed the protective factors associated with lower risk of mental health problems among cancer patients. The present study revealed a high prevalence of mental health problems and gaps in mental health services for cancer patients, which also indicated high distress from COVID-19-elevated risks. We call for systematic screening of mental health status for all cancer patients, and developing specific psychological interventions for this vulnerable population.

“It seems like COVID-19 now is the only disease present on Earth”: living with a rare or undiagnosed disease during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In addition, while the impacts of COVID-19 visitation policies and their consequences have been examined in the context of intensive care unit (ICU) care of COVID-19 patients, 31 , 32 RUD patients’ complex health challenges require increased advocacy even when accessing routine care. On the other hand, the limited literature in other patient groups indicates that those grappling with complex health conditions, such as cancer, 33 during the pandemic also are at risk for serious mental health challenges, such as those described by our respondents. Our qualitative data further suggest that the anxiety caused by the pandemic may be leading some RUD patients to forgo treatment altogether, with potentially catastrophic implications for their already complex health.…”

Brief Symptoms Inventory psychometric properties supports the hypothesis of a general psychopathological factor.

“…Nonetheless, the use of specific factors seems to be useful to address specific questions in both clinical and research. For example, in recent studies concerning mental health related to the pandemics, Wang et al, 36 and Ellis et al, 37 used hostility and depression subscales to address specific questions related to psychological distress in cancer patients and adolescents in isolation, respectively. Thus, our results support a similar score interpretation approach to address specific issues in mental health for the Brazilian BSI version.…”

Application of the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 (SAVE-6) and Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) to Measure Anxiety in Cancer Patient in Response to COVID-19

“…The widespread contagion and lockdown of the COVID-19 have caused considerable mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress symptoms (Castelli et al, 2020;Talevi et al, 2020;Torales et al, 2020;Vindegaard and Benros, 2020). Different levels of psychological distress may appear depending on the healthcare workers (Di Tella et al, 2020;Lai et al, 2020;Li et al, 2020;Vindegaard and Benros, 2020), the elderly (Yang et al, 2020), and the presence of underlying disease (Wang et al, 2020).…”

“…In a recently published study of the cancer patients in China during the COVID-19 pandemic, patients reported adverse psychiatric symptoms with the highest percentages accounted for by depression, anxiety, and PTSD which were 23.4, 17.7, and 9.3%, respectively (Wang et al, 2020). Even in normal times, fear and anxiety affect the course of underlying diseases (Vanni et al, 2020).…”