The psychological health of patients diagnosed with cancer in Iraq during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A single center study
Authors: Alrubai Tahseen , Khalil Arwa Mohsun , Zaki Rasha , Sinno Loubna , AL Tabbah Samaa 
Published: November 2021

Objective

The objective of this study was to assess the psychological health status of patients diagnosed with cancer in Iraq during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The study aim was to measure the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among patients diagnosed with cancer. Secondary aims were to assess the association between depression, anxiety, and stress with sociodemographic characteristics, cancer‐specific characteristics, patients' experience in healthcare visit, risk perception towards COVID‐19, and health concern during the outbreak.

Methods

A cross‐sectional study was conducted between September 1, 2020 and December 1, 2020 at an Oncology clinic in Baghdad. Included in the study were two hundred patients diagnosed with cancer. Data collected included: demographic variables (age, gender, residential location, marital status, education, employment status), clinical characteristics and cancer‐specific parameters (duration since cancer diagnosis, cancer type, treatment duration, clinic visits frequency), experience during the pandemic (skipping or postponing treatment or periodical tests, suffering from new body pain, fear of acquiring the infection, fear of health deterioration), as well as psychological health status (depression, anxiety, stress). Pain, risk perception towards COVID‐19, and health concern were measured using categorical Likert scale with responses being no, sometimes, and often. The psychological health status was measured by the “Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale” (DASS‐21). Cut‐off scores of the DASS‐21 greater than 9, 7, and 14 represent a positive screen of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively.

Results

The prevalence of patients who screened positive for depression was 22.0%, anxiety 22.0%, and stress 13.5%. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress were significantly more in those who had university or higher education (34.3%,p‐value <0.0001; 32.3%,p‐value <0.0001; 19.2%,p‐value = 0.02 respectively). Those were four times more likely to have depression and two times more likely to have anxiety than participants who had school education (OR = 4.40 CI [1.98–9.77],p‐value <0.0001; OR = 2.55 CI [1.15–5.65],p‐value = 0.02, respectively). The prevalence of anxiety was significantly the highest in the age group 16–39 years (40.9%) compared to 22.3% in the age group 40–64 years and 10.3% in the group ≥65 years (p‐value = 0.02). Patients ≥65 years of age were less likely to develop anxiety compared to younger patients (OR = 0.44 CI [0.22–0.89],p‐value = 0.02). As for the patients' experience in healthcare visit, 66 patients (33.0%) skipped or postponed their treatment or tests due to the outbreak. Around (8%) sometimes suffered from new body pain. Those who sometimes suffered from new body pain had significantly more depression than patients who did not suffer new pain or often had new pain (50.0% vs. 15.0% vs. 28.1% respectively,p‐value = 0.002). Those were two times more likely to be depressed (OR = 2.18 CI [1.29–3.68],p‐value = 0.003). Around (50%) of the patients were often afraid that their health would deteriorate during the outbreak. Those were significantly more depressed (31.7%,p‐value = 0.002), anxious (30.7%,p‐value <0.0001) and stressed (21.8%,p‐value = 0.002) than those who did not have fear of losing their health and were two times more likely to have anxiety and stress.

Conclusion

These findings, especially the association between developing new pain and depression, raised concerns regarding the psychological health in patients diagnosed with cancer during COVID‐19 pandemic. It is crucial to implement psychological health screening for patients diagnosed with cancer during the pandemic to help prevent any psychological health problems. The DASS‐21 could be used as a screening tool for distress in these patients.