Evaluation of Degree of Thanatophobia Associated with Prosthetic Rehabilitation of Oral Cancer Patients

Abstract

Psychosocial effects of oral cancer have been studied with less devotion to patient related problems like thanatophobia or fear of death in such individuals. Thanatophobia is measured using Death attitude profile (revised) along with four other dimensions of death. Fear of death that develops after definitive diagnosis of oral cancer has psychological impact and may affect patient compliance to any treatment. Oral cancers are mostly of squamous cell type which has high mortality rates as compared to other cancers of the oral cavity. Ten subjects treated for different types of oral cancer were followed prospectively and recalled after 1, 2, 3 and 6 months respectively. A questionnaire that would determine the degree of thanatophobia was filled by the patients and scored on a scale from 1 to 7 in the direction of strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). Patients were found to have maximum fear at second month which declined at the end of six month.