The Level of COVID-19 Anxiety among Oncology Patients in Poland

Mateusz Grajek; Karolina Krupa-Kotara; Mateusz Rozmiarek; Karolina Sobczyk; Eliza Działach; Michał Górski; Joanna Kobza

doi:10.3390/ijerph191811418

The Level of COVID-19 Anxiety among Oncology Patients in Poland

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 10;19(18):11418. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191811418.

Authors

Mateusz Grajek¹, Karolina Krupa-Kotara², Mateusz Rozmiarek³, Karolina Sobczyk⁴, Eliza Działach¹, Michał Górski⁵, Joanna Kobza¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences in Bytom, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40055 Katowice, Poland.
² Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health Sciences in Bytom, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40055 Katowice, Poland.
³ Department of Sports Tourism, Faculty of Physical Culture Sciences, Poznan University of Physical Education, 61871 Poznan, Poland.
⁴ Department of Health Economics and Health Management, Faculty of Health Sciences in Bytom, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40055 Katowice, Poland.
⁵ Department of Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences in Bytom, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40055 Katowice, Poland.

Abstract

Cancer patients tend to have a high psychological burden. Half of cancer patients suffer from severe affective disorders and anxiety disorders, while one-third struggle with mild forms of these. The COVID-19 pandemic is damaging the mental health of the population due to social restrictions. A growing number of studies note the role of COVID-19 anxiety in the health and quality of life of cancer patients. The purpose of this study is to estimate the level of COVID-19 anxiety among oncology patients and to test the utility of the FCV-19S scale in a population study of cancer patients. The study included 600 respondents (300 oncology patients and 300 control subjects not undergoing oncological treatment). The FCV-19S scale and the GAD-7 scale were used in the study. The results were interpreted according to the following verbal scale: 76-100%, high anxiety; 56-75%, moderate anxiety; 26-55%, low COVID-19 anxiety; <25%, no COVID-19 anxiety. In the analysis of the GAD-7 questionnaire results, the mean score obtained was 8.21 (min. 0; max. 21; SD 5.32). For 81% of respondents in the group of oncology patients, the total score indicated the presence of anxiety symptoms with varying degrees of severity; in the control group, this proportion was 55% of respondents. The FCV-19S scale score as a percentage was 57.4% for oncology patients, indicating a moderate level of fear of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and 30.3% for the control group, indicating a low level of fear of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. One-fifth of oncology patients were afraid of losing their lives due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus; in the control group, this proportion was 13% of respondents. Oncology patients were characterized by a higher prevalence of sleep disturbance than control group respondents, which was associated with greater anxiety. The study, therefore, shows that oncology patients have moderate levels of anxiety associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and non-oncology patients show lower levels of anxiety.

Keywords: COVID-19; FCV-19S; GAD-7; Poland; SARS-CoV-2; anxiety; oncology.

MeSH terms

Anxiety / diagnosis
Anxiety / epidemiology
Anxiety Disorders / epidemiology
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Humans
Neoplasms* / complications
Neoplasms* / epidemiology
Pandemics
Poland / epidemiology
Quality of Life
SARS-CoV-2

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.