Ng Huah Shin, Koczwara Bogda, Beatty Lisa
Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
SA Pharmacy, Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
J Cancer Surviv. 2025 Feb;19(1):365-375. doi: 10.1007/s11764-023-01472-4. Epub 2023 Oct 4.
To compare the patterns of mental health service utilisation between people with and without cancer.
We performed a cross-sectional study using data of all respondents aged ≥ 25 years from the Australian National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2020-2021 conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparisons were made between the two groups (cancer versus non-cancer) using logistic regression models.
The study comprised 318 people with cancer (55% female) and 4628 people without cancer (54% female). Cancer survivors had a higher prevalence of reporting poor health (38% versus 16%) and mental distress (18% versus 14%) than people without cancer. There were no significant differences between people with and without cancer in the odds of consulting general practitioner, psychiatrist and other health professionals for mental health, although people with cancer were significantly more likely to consult a psychologist than people without cancer (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.64, 95%CI = 1.05-2.48). While the odds of being hospitalised for physical health was significantly higher in cancer survivors than people without cancer (aOR = 2.32, 95%CI = 1.78-3.01), there was only a negligible number of people reported being hospitalised for mental health between the two groups. Several factors were associated with higher odds of mental health service utilisation including younger age, unpartnered marital status and presence of a current mental condition.
Alarmingly, despite experiencing higher prevalence of poor health status and mental distress, cancer survivors did not utilise more mental health services than the general population. That is, there is a higher degree of untreated, or undertreated, distress in cancer than in the general population.
Further research to identify optimal approaches of mental health care delivery for cancer survivors are urgently needed.
比较患癌人群与未患癌人群心理健康服务的使用模式。
我们利用2020 - 2021年新冠疫情期间澳大利亚全国心理健康与幸福状况研究中所有年龄≥25岁受访者的数据进行了一项横断面研究。使用逻辑回归模型对两组(患癌组与未患癌组)进行比较。
该研究包括318名患癌者(55%为女性)和4628名未患癌者(54%为女性)。与未患癌人群相比,癌症幸存者报告健康状况差(38%对16%)和精神困扰(18%对14%)的患病率更高。在因心理健康咨询全科医生、精神科医生和其他健康专业人员的几率方面,患癌人群与未患癌人群之间没有显著差异,尽管患癌人群咨询心理医生的可能性显著高于未患癌人群(调整优势比(aOR)= 1.64,95%置信区间 = 1.05 - 2.48)。虽然癌症幸存者因身体健康住院的几率显著高于未患癌人群(aOR = 2.32,95%置信区间 = 1.78 - 3.01),但两组中因心理健康住院的人数都极少。几个因素与心理健康服务使用几率较高相关,包括年龄较小、未婚状态以及当前存在精神疾病。
令人担忧的是,尽管癌症幸存者健康状况差和精神困扰的患病率更高,但他们使用的心理健康服务并不比普通人群多。也就是说,癌症患者中未治疗或治疗不足的困扰程度高于普通人群。
迫切需要进一步研究以确定为癌症幸存者提供心理健康护理的最佳方法。