FP06.04 Psychological Distress in Outpatients with Lymphoma, Lung and Breast Cancer during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The psychological impact of the lockdown experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic has been found detrimental for the general population, but it has still not been evaluated in cancer patients We have investigated the psychological status of outpatients receiving anti-neoplastic treatmentduring the lockdown in a non-COVID Cancer Center, with the following aims: to measure the levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression and anxiety, to compare patients with different diagnosis A further objective was to compare the anxiety and depression levels between cancer patients before and after the emergency assuming an increase in distress in cancer patients in this period due to the health emergency Methods: Outpatients attending the IRCCS Giovanni Paolo II in Bari for their therapy were asked to complete these questionnaires: The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADs) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-r) Worries regarding the COVID-19 on patients’ lives, socio-demographic and clinical details were investigated using a brief structured questionnaire Results: One-hundred seventy-six outpatients (n 59 with lung cancer, n 40 with breast cancer, n 77 with lymphoma) were enrolled Mean age was 57 9 y o (SD ±14);48% were male We found that 54,4% of patients were above the cut-off (score≥16) for HADS general scale The mean-IES-R score of patients was 25 (SD±17), with 22 8% indicating severe level of PTDS The HADS-D has been found significantly correlated with IES-R (r= 0 35;p<0 005) The 70% of patients declared that their worries have increased during the pandemic;their bigger concerns were: the risk of getting infected while at hospital (51 4%);the risk of infecting relatives coming back home (38 7%), andthe risk of delaying therapy (35 3%) When comparing the level of anxiety and depression in different diagnosis it has been found that patients with lung cancer have higher distress(HADs-general scale) than patients with lymphoma (F=17 3, p<0 005) and breast cancer (F=8 86, p<0 005) Finally, cancer patients who experienced the health emergency showed higher levels of anxiety Hads-A, t (237) = 3 73 p<0 001), and general distress (Hads-G, t (237) = 2 51) than those measured 2 years ago (fig 1) Conclusion: This study focused on the psychological aspects of cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that one quarter of patients has severe post-traumatic stress symptoms, and has psychological distress Patients with lung cancer have higher distress compared to the other groups This condition risks being overlooked by clinical concerns, so we underline the importance to place even more attention to the psychological needs of patients Keywords: cancer, COVID, Psychological distress