1857P - Psychological distress in Georgian cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy: Before and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has been closely associated with a decline in mental health. The goal of this study was to identify the degree of distress of cancer patients before and after the pandemic and to find out if COVID-19 worsened the mental health of cancer patients.

Methods

A self-rated survey was conducted for 2 groups of patients at The Todua Clinic, Tbilisi, Georgia twice: at the peak of pandemic and again 6 months after the pandemic. Study included adult cancer patients, with solid tumors, over 18 years of age, receiving chemotherapy, being able to understand and answer the questions in written English. Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) test was implemented to measure Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Total IES-R score of 33 or over signifies the likely presence of PTSD.

Results

Study enrolled total of 195 patients, 103 patients - during and 92 - after the pandemic. 3 independent and 5 dependent variables were created. Independent variables were: 1. IES-R score ≥24 ( y=1 if score ≥ 24, y=0 if score ≤ 24); 2. IES-R score≥ 33 (y=1 if score ≥ 33, y=0 if score ≤ 33); 3. IES-R score 37 (y= 1 if score ≤ 37, y=0 f score ≤ 37). Five dependent variables were: time, type of disease, stage, sex, and marital status. We created 3 regression models with independent and dependent variables (model 1: independent variable was IES-R score ≥24, model 2 independent variable was - IES-R score ≥ 33, model 3 IES-R score ≥ 33). We observed improvement in IES-R scores in the post-pandemic period: In model 1 - results improved by 20%, In model 2 - 16%, and in model 3 – 14%. Female and married individuals had better results in both periods. We calculated the data and observed that all dependent variables other than the disease type and the disease stage had a significant impact on IES-R scores.

Conclusions

Our findings showed a significant difference in IES-R scores in patients before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, with notable improvement in the post-COVID period. We also observed that sex, disease stage, marital status, and disease stage affected IES-R scores. We conclude that COVID-19 worsened the mental health of cancer patients. Our study highlighted the need for efforts to better integrate psychosocial support into cancer treatment.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.