Althumairi Arwa, Al Askari Entesar Ahmed, AlOmar Reem S, Alumran Arwa
Department of Health Information Management and Technology, College of Public Health, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 34212, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31451, Saudi Arabia.
Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Apr 29;10(5):825. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10050825.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted cancer care to a certain degree. There is objective evidence that COVID-19 outbreaks are causing substantial emotional distress among cancer patients regardless of their disease severity. This study aims to measure the levels of psychological distress, depression, and pandemic anxiety among cancer patients in Saudi Arabia during the outbreak of COVID-19 and their impact on patients' cancer treatment plans. This was a cross-sectional study conducted among oncology patients in Saudi Arabia in November of 2020. The levels of stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak were measured using the Questionnaire for Depression and Anxiety (PHQ-4), and patients were classified as depressed/distressed if the total score was 6 and above and classified as not depressed/distressed if they scored less than 6. Among the sampled population, anxiety symptoms and depression were detected in 61.5% and 70.2%, respectively. Statistical analyses revealed that feeling more isolated was significant for anxiety symptoms ( = 0.005), while patients who used institutions as a source of COVID-19 information had significant depression ( = 0.010) compared to patients who accessed information from other sources. In the binary regression model, feeling more isolated than before was 3.208 times more likely to be associated with anxiety symptoms (OR = 3.208; 95% CI = 1.391-7.396; = 0.006), while those patients who had a support institution as a source of COVID-19 information were 4.2 times more likely to be associated with depression (OR = 4.200; 95% CI = 1.328-13.280; = 0.015). The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the burden on cancer patients. The increased risk of anxiety symptoms and depression was clearly demonstrated in this study. Feeling isolated had a greater impact on anxiety symptoms, while obtaining COVID-19 information from a patient support institution negatively affected depression.
新冠疫情在一定程度上扰乱了癌症护理。有客观证据表明，无论疾病严重程度如何，新冠疫情的爆发都在癌症患者中造成了严重的情绪困扰。本研究旨在测量沙特阿拉伯癌症患者在新冠疫情爆发期间的心理困扰、抑郁和疫情焦虑水平，以及它们对患者癌症治疗计划的影响。这是一项于2020年11月在沙特阿拉伯的肿瘤患者中开展的横断面研究。使用抑郁和焦虑问卷（PHQ - 4）来测量新冠疫情爆发期间的压力、抑郁和焦虑症状水平，总分6分及以上的患者被归类为抑郁/困扰，得分低于6分的患者被归类为非抑郁/困扰。在抽样人群中，焦虑症状和抑郁的检出率分别为61.5%和70.2%。统计分析显示，感觉更加孤立对焦虑症状有显著影响（P = 0.005），而与从其他来源获取信息的患者相比，将机构作为新冠信息来源的患者有显著的抑郁症状（P = 0.010）。在二元回归模型中，感觉比以前更加孤立与焦虑症状相关的可能性高3.208倍（OR = 3.208；95%置信区间 = 1.391 - 7.396；P = 0.006），而那些将支持机构作为新冠信息来源的患者与抑郁相关的可能性高4.2倍（OR = 4.200；95%置信区间 = 1.328 - 13.280；P = 0.015）。新冠疫情增加了癌症患者的负担。本研究清楚地表明了焦虑症状和抑郁风险的增加。感觉孤立对焦虑症状的影响更大，而从患者支持机构获取新冠信息对抑郁有负面影响。
