ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN CANCER PATIENTS: PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT NEED AND SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION WITH HEALTH TEAM

Background. The biomedical care for cancer has not been complemented by psychosocial progressions in cancer care.Objectives. To find the prevalence of anxiety and depression amongst cancer patients in a hospital setting.Design and Setting. This cross-sectional study was conducted at the tertiary care hospitals Shifa International Hospital Islamabad and Nuclear Medicine, Oncology, and Radiotherapy Institute [NORI].Patients and Methods. 300 patients were interviewed from both the outpatient and inpatient department using The Aga Khan University Anxiety and Depression Scale (AKUADS).Main Outcome Measures. Using a score of 20 and above on the AKUADS, 146 (48.7%) patients were suffering from anxiety and depression.Results. When cross tabulation was done between different factors and the cancer patients with anxiety and depression, the following factors were found out to be significant with associatedpvalue < 0.05: education of the patient, presence of cancer in the family, the severity of pain, and the patient’s awareness of his anxiety and depression. Out of 143 (47.7%) uneducated patients, 85 (59.4%) were depressed, hence making it the highest educational category suffering from depression and anxiety.Conclusion. The prevalence of anxiety and depression amongst cancer patients was high showing that importance should be given to screening and counseling cancer patients for anxiety and depression, to help them cope with cancer as a disease and its impact on their mental wellbeing.Limitations. The frequency of female patients in our research was higher than those of male patients.

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PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF ONCOLOGICAL PAIN: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Revista de Patologia do Tocantins ◽

10.20873/uft.2446-6492.2020v7n1p59 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 59-61

Author(s):

Lucas Yago Souza Schmidt ◽

Ana Flávia de Oliveira Castro ◽

João Gabriel Lopes Siqueira ◽

Dowglas Pereira De Oliveira ◽

Welma Rezende Fuso De Assis

Keyword(s):

Cancer Metastasis ◽

Advanced Disease ◽

Primary Site ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Review Of Literature ◽

Biological Mechanisms ◽

Related Factors ◽

Educational Support ◽

Health Team

Despite the contributions to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the disease continues to present an adverse effect on patients' quality of life, with pain being a frequent complaint, with a prevalence varying from 50 to 53% in cancer patients at all stages and up to 70 % in cases of advanced disease. Cancer pain ismanifested by the primary site of cancer, metastasis, bone involvement, proximity to the nervous system, production of pain-promoting chemicals, and patient-related factors such as anxiety and depression. Because it is subjective, not palpable, and an individual experience and difficult to evaluate, requires for the health team educational support, knowledge and instruments that contribute to their understanding, being the elucidation of its biological mechanisms object of this literature review.

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