Correlates of Fear of Cancer Progression during COVID-19 in Romania

Abstract

Objectives. Fear of cancer progression (FoP) is one of patients’ greatest concerns and one of the most reported unmet needs. Higher levels of FoP can negatively impact a patient’s quality of life, impairing physical, emotional, social and functional well-being. The Romanian health-care system has difficulties in offering qualitative psychosocial assistance for cancer outpatients. Due to their specific implications, the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions might further affect FoP, therefore our objective was to investigate correlates of FoP in cancer outpatients during the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. Material and methods. The study investigated correlates of FoP in 330 Romanian cancer outpatients assessed during 2021. T-tests, Multivariate General Linear Models and Hierarchical Regression Models were conducted in order to assess the relationship between variables. Outcomes. Results showed differences in the assessed variables depending on gender (women had scores significantly higher than men regarding FoP and illness intrusiveness) and marital status. Moreover, using a hierarchical regression model, we identified three statistically significant predictors of FoP: gender, illness intrusiveness regarding relationships and anxiety, together explaining 38.2% of the variance in global FoP scores. Anxiety was the most important predictor of FoP, explaining 21.3% of the variance in the FoP scores, 5 times more than gender and almost 2 times more than illness intrusiveness in interpersonal relationships. Conclusions. Cancer is a complex experience, impacted by both socio-demographic variables such as gender and marital status, as well as psychological variables such as anxiety and fear of disease progression. Individualized psychosocial-care should be recognized as essential, and personalized interventions should be integrated into the patient's treatment plan.