Psychosocial impact of COVID-19 pandemic among patients under oncological treatment.

Abstract

e18767 Background: The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to worldwide concern about population's mental health as people were exposed to changes in their daily life routine. Chronic patients were more susceptible to the psychological and healthy impact in the pandemic. This observational, exploratory, multicenter study aims to evaluate the oncology patient's perception about the psychosocial impact of cancer treatment in the scenario of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data were collected from cancer patients who voluntarily answered two self-applied questionnaires. The hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) were also used to assess the presence of depression and anxiety symptoms. High score was defined by cutoff > 8. Clinical characteristics and patients perception were reported as frequencies. Chi Square test was used to compare risk of anxiety/depression through HADS and categorical variables, including gender, type of cancer treatment and psychosocial aspects. Odds-Ratio was calculated using logistic regression. Results: 122 patients were included, 86% were receiving chemotherapy, 53.3% with palliative intention. Mean age was 54.8, and 59% were female. Most patients attended the hospital for cancer treatment every 14 days (44.2%). Regarding social isolation, 47.5% only left home when necessary; 62.3% of respondents reported not being afraid of being infected by the virus when going to the hospital for treatment. This fact can be understood as 100% of the patients reported that the protocol changes adopted by the hospital in the pandemic were positive and beneficial. A total of 77.8% noticed changes during the pandemic, mainly related to reduced physical activity (53.4%), loss of family (62.2%) or social (54,9%) contact. According to HADS, anxiety and depression symptoms were reported in 17% and 15,5% respectively. Female patients scored higher on HADS-A (OR 4,091 (CI95% 1,114-15,021)). No difference was observed in HADS independently of line of chemotherapy or type of treatment. HADS score was not higher in inpatients. 52,4% of patients were more afraid of cancer than COVID infection. Patients who answered that the fear of cancer was higher than the fear of COVID-19 infection scored higher at HADS-D (OR 4,712 (CI95% 1,77-15,028)). Conclusions: Patients were more afraid of cancer than COVID-19 infection. Female patients had a higher anxiety score and more depression was observed in patients who were more afraid of cancer. This study indicates that, in a patient´s psychological view, the maintenance of treatment and consultations frequency during oncological care may be as important as restrictive strategies used to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection.