PUB142 Fear of Cancer Recurrence in Early Stage Lung Cancer Patients

Abstract

Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is one of the most distressful experiences among advanced lung cancer (LC) patients. It has found to impact patients quality of life. However, limited investigations have explored patients’ concerns about FCR in early stage LC populations who are expected to have relatively much longer survival time. Thus, the purposes of this study are: (1) to examine the level of FCR in early stage lung cancer patients at three months post-surgery, (2) to explore patients’ coping strategies dealing with FCR, (3) to examine the relationship among severity of FCR, depression, anxiety, and disease stages (Ia vs. Ib, II, IIIa). A cross-sectional survey with consecutive sampling was conducted in a medical center in Northern Taiwan. Eligible patients are those newly diagnosed early stage LC patients (stage I, II, IIIa) and three months post-surgery. We used the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory (FCRI) to examine FCR and their coping strategies. Patients’ depression, anxiety (by Hospital Depression Anxiety Scale), disease information were assessed. Patients were assessed by two trained research nurses after the approval of IRB and patients' consent. We recruited 200 early stage lung cancer patients from a medical center in Taiwan. In general, most early stage LC experience mild level of FCR. However, about 10 % of patients reported to experience moderate level of FCR. About d 40% of patients reported the FCR experiences were easily triggered by seeing or hearing television or newspaper about cancer. Patients with higher FCR also have higher depression and anxiety. Patients with stage Ia have significantly lower FCR concerns compared to those with stage Ib, II and IIIa. For coping strategies, about half of LC patients convinced themselves that everything would be fine or to think positively to cope with this distressful concern. There were one fourth of patients went to hospital for physical check up to prevent possible cancer recurrence. In this study, FCR is still a concern and even in a moderate level for early stage LC patients in three months after surgery. Health care professionals should assess patients’ FCR concerns. Development of FCR related interventions to help them manage this distress would be strongly recommended.