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SELF-REPORTED MEASURE OF SUBJECTIVE DISTRESS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIA IN PATIENTS REFERRED TO OUR SKIN CANCER UNIT DURING THE FIRST WAVE.

ABSTRACT: During the Italian first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, social restrictions and bad news daily spread by mass media inevitably had a great influence on the mental state of the population. To assess how much the COVID-19 outbreak impacted the psychologic state of patients referring to our Skin Cancer Unit from March 9^th to May 31^st, 2020, we submitted to them a self-report questionnaire, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). To evaluate the trend of the IES-score over time, we set a temporal cut-off on March 27^th (the day with the highest number of deaths for COVID-19 in Italy during the first wave). 355 patients completed the questionnaire reporting an average IES-R score of 25.5 (±16.4); 32.4% of participants reached a total IES-R score >32. Patients who came to visit after March 27^th reported a higher psychologic impact since the IES-R score significantly increased from 23.6 (±15.6) to 28.3 (±17.2). A group reported higher scores (57.4% of participants reaching an IES-R score >32 were femen, versus 33.9% of men). We gathered that, at an early stage of events of this magnitude, it could be useful to submit the IES-R questionnaire in high-risk and oncological patients: we could be able to identify individuals at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorders, who may be tempted to postpone necessary medical consultations. This could be also the basis for increasing targeted psychologic support in selected patients.

SUBMITTER: Borsari S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8613933 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused mental health problems worldwide. The psychopathological implications of COVID-19 in cancer patients have rarely been addressed. Considering the increased vulnerability of oncology patients, this issue needs to be addressed to improve the long-term mental health status of these patients. Methods: We conducted a prospective study in outpatients under active cancer treatment during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A semi-structured 24-question survey was designed to measure baseline sociodemographic, psychosocial and COVID-19 exposure characteristics. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used to measure psychological symptoms. A descriptive and analytical univariate analysis of the variables studied was performed. We used the Z-score to compare different populations (experimental and historical control cohort). Results: 104 patients were included, the majority of which were women (64.4%), were above 65 years of age (57.7%), had either lung and breast cancer (56.7%), had advanced disease (64%) and were undergoing chemotherapy (63.5%). 51% of them expressed greater fear of cancer than of COVID-19 infection or both. In relation to HADS, 52.8% of emotional distress, 42.3% of anxiety and 58.6% of depression rates were detected. The main factors related with higher rates of psychological symptomatology were history of previous psychotropic drug consumption and the adoption of additional infection prevention measures because they considered themselves at risk of severe COVID-19 infection (p = 0.008; p = 0.003 for emotional distress, p = 0.026; p = 0.004 for anxiety, and p = 0.013; p = 0.008 for depression). Tumor type, stage, oncologic treatment or rescheduling of cancer treatments were not related to higher levels of psychological symptomatology. Comparison of our results with another population of similar characteristics was not significant (Z score = -1.88; p = 0.060). Conclusions: We detected high rates of emotional distress during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic among cancer patients in active treatment (52.8%). This was higher and clinically relevant than observed in a comparable population (42.5%), although not significant. Cancer itself is the main factor of concern for cancer patients, above and beyond the emotional distress generated by COVID-19 pandemic.

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SELF-REPORTED MEASURE OF SUBJECTIVE DISTRESS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIA IN PATIENTS REFERRED TO OUR SKIN CANCER UNIT DURING THE FIRST WAVE.

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