Abstract

Background: Anxiety and depression are frequent symptoms in patients with lung cancer. Most of the time it is underdiagnosed, that's why this patient population receives little or no support to address their psychosocial needs.

Aims:This study aims to compare mortality in patients with lung cancer who have and who have not had symptoms of anxiety or depression.

Material and methods: 143 patients with cancer answered an adapted version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and were followed until December 2021. We choose a cut-off score of = 8 to reflect probable cases of anxiety and depression.

Results: The average age of patients was 61, 58 years (40-81), the majority were male (92, 3%). Participants were diagnosed with Stage IV (Metastatic) (67,1%) and adenocarcinoma (53,8%) was the most common histologic type. 62.9% of patients had symptoms of anxiety (HADS-A =8); 60,8% had symptoms of depression (HADS-D =8) and 54,5% had both. They were followed for 2 years during which forty-three individuals died (30,06%) including 34 patients had symptoms of anxiety and 28 patients had symptoms of depression. We observed a positive association between HADS scores and mortality rate. In fact, compared to those with HADS-A and -D score <8, symptoms of anxiety or depression increased mortality by 20,8 % and 23% respectively.

Conclusion: Patients with anxiety or depression had greater risk of mortality.  that’s why screening for anxiety and depression in adult cancer patients deserve special attention by the healthcare system. A psychological support in the early stage must be provided to them, in order to lower mortality and to improve their quality of life.