Impact of COVID-19 on distress, anxiety, depression and quality of life in cancer patients

Abstract

The SARS-CoV- 2 virus spread was extended all over the world so fast. Fallowing this were carried out in the public health attention some measures and politics to avoid the infection and reduce the contagion. Therefore, a million of people have been in isolation or in quarantine. This pandemic and confinement have had an impact in the mental and physic health and in the people life’s quality mainly those who are more vulnerable to catch the virus and have a great risk of complications such as the cancer patients. Aim: To determinate the differences between the levels of distress, anxiety, depression and quality of live of cancer patient before (pre-Covid group) and during (Covid group) the COVID-19 pandemic, considering the possible influence of the sex variable on the levels of distress, anxiety, depression and quality of life. Method: It was taken a sample of 339 patients, 147 of them were pre-covid group and 192 belonged to the covid group. We used instruments such as the Distress Thermometer (DT), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) of the European Organization Questionnaire for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). Results: The main findings were that the Covid group had significantly higher levels of distress, anxiety, depression and, in general worse indicators of quality of life than the pre- Covid group. Conclusion: The results suggest that cancer patients in the face of pandemics require more psychological support.