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The COVID-19 Pandemic and Cancer Patients in Germany: Impact on Treatment, Follow-Up Care and Psychological Burden

In response to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, governments imposed various measures to decrease the rate of disease spread, and health care policy makers prioritized resource allocation to accommodate COVID-19 patients. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey in German...

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Autores principales: Eckford, Rachel D., Gaisser, Andrea, Arndt, Volker, Baumann, Michael, Kludt, Evelyn, Mehlis, Katja, Ubels, Jasper, Winkler, Eva C., Weg-Remers, Susanne, Schlander, Michael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8865576/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35223757
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.788598
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author Eckford, Rachel D.
Gaisser, Andrea
Arndt, Volker
Baumann, Michael
Kludt, Evelyn
Mehlis, Katja
Ubels, Jasper
Winkler, Eva C.
Weg-Remers, Susanne
Schlander, Michael
author_facet Eckford, Rachel D.
Gaisser, Andrea
Arndt, Volker
Baumann, Michael
Kludt, Evelyn
Mehlis, Katja
Ubels, Jasper
Winkler, Eva C.
Weg-Remers, Susanne
Schlander, Michael
author_sort Eckford, Rachel D.
collection PubMed
description In response to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, governments imposed various measures to decrease the rate of disease spread, and health care policy makers prioritized resource allocation to accommodate COVID-19 patients. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey in Germany (July 2020–June 2021) to assess the frequency of changes to cancer care among cancer patients and to explore the psychological impact of the pandemic writ large. Cancer patients who contacted the Cancer Information Service (Krebsinformationsdienst, KID) of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) via email were invited to complete an online questionnaire, capturing demographics, cancer specifics (e.g., type, disease phase, primary place of treatment, etc.), and any changes to their medical, follow-up, psycho-oncological or nursing care. General level of psychological distress was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) along with face-validated items regarding worries and social isolation specific to the pandemic. In total, 13% of 621 patients reported a change to their treatment or care plan. Of those patients with changes, the majority of changes were made to follow-up care after treatment (56%), to monitoring during treatment (29%) and to psychological counseling (20%). Of the overall sample, more than half of patients (55%) reported symptoms of anxiety and 39% reported symptoms of depression. Patients with a change in cancer care were more likely to report symptoms of depression than those with no change (AOR: 2.18; 95% CI: 1.26–3.76). Concern about the pandemic affecting the quality of health care was a predictor of both anxiety (AOR: 2.76; 95% CI: 1.75–4.35) and depression (AOR: 2.15; 95% CI: 1.43–3.23). Results showed that the majority of cancer patients in our study did not experience a change in their cancer care. However, the level of anxiety and psycho-social burden of cancer patients during the pandemic was high throughout the study period. Our findings underscore the need for health care services and policy makers to assess and to attend cancer patients' medical needs, with added emphasis on patients' psychological and social well-being. This applies particularly in situations where the healthcare system is strained and prioritization is necessary.
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spelling pubmed-88655762022-02-24 The COVID-19 Pandemic and Cancer Patients in Germany: Impact on Treatment, Follow-Up Care and Psychological Burden Eckford, Rachel D. Gaisser, Andrea Arndt, Volker Baumann, Michael Kludt, Evelyn Mehlis, Katja Ubels, Jasper Winkler, Eva C. Weg-Remers, Susanne Schlander, Michael Front Public Health Public Health In response to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, governments imposed various measures to decrease the rate of disease spread, and health care policy makers prioritized resource allocation to accommodate COVID-19 patients. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey in Germany (July 2020–June 2021) to assess the frequency of changes to cancer care among cancer patients and to explore the psychological impact of the pandemic writ large. Cancer patients who contacted the Cancer Information Service (Krebsinformationsdienst, KID) of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) via email were invited to complete an online questionnaire, capturing demographics, cancer specifics (e.g., type, disease phase, primary place of treatment, etc.), and any changes to their medical, follow-up, psycho-oncological or nursing care. General level of psychological distress was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) along with face-validated items regarding worries and social isolation specific to the pandemic. In total, 13% of 621 patients reported a change to their treatment or care plan. Of those patients with changes, the majority of changes were made to follow-up care after treatment (56%), to monitoring during treatment (29%) and to psychological counseling (20%). Of the overall sample, more than half of patients (55%) reported symptoms of anxiety and 39% reported symptoms of depression. Patients with a change in cancer care were more likely to report symptoms of depression than those with no change (AOR: 2.18; 95% CI: 1.26–3.76). Concern about the pandemic affecting the quality of health care was a predictor of both anxiety (AOR: 2.76; 95% CI: 1.75–4.35) and depression (AOR: 2.15; 95% CI: 1.43–3.23). Results showed that the majority of cancer patients in our study did not experience a change in their cancer care. However, the level of anxiety and psycho-social burden of cancer patients during the pandemic was high throughout the study period. Our findings underscore the need for health care services and policy makers to assess and to attend cancer patients' medical needs, with added emphasis on patients' psychological and social well-being. This applies particularly in situations where the healthcare system is strained and prioritization is necessary. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-02-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8865576/ /pubmed/35223757 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.788598 Text en Copyright © 2022 Eckford, Gaisser, Arndt, Baumann, Kludt, Mehlis, Ubels, Winkler, Weg-Remers and Schlander. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Eckford, Rachel D.
Gaisser, Andrea
Arndt, Volker
Baumann, Michael
Kludt, Evelyn
Mehlis, Katja
Ubels, Jasper
Winkler, Eva C.
Weg-Remers, Susanne
Schlander, Michael
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Cancer Patients in Germany: Impact on Treatment, Follow-Up Care and Psychological Burden
title The COVID-19 Pandemic and Cancer Patients in Germany: Impact on Treatment, Follow-Up Care and Psychological Burden
title_full The COVID-19 Pandemic and Cancer Patients in Germany: Impact on Treatment, Follow-Up Care and Psychological Burden
title_fullStr The COVID-19 Pandemic and Cancer Patients in Germany: Impact on Treatment, Follow-Up Care and Psychological Burden
title_full_unstemmed The COVID-19 Pandemic and Cancer Patients in Germany: Impact on Treatment, Follow-Up Care and Psychological Burden
title_short The COVID-19 Pandemic and Cancer Patients in Germany: Impact on Treatment, Follow-Up Care and Psychological Burden
title_sort covid-19 pandemic and cancer patients in germany: impact on treatment, follow-up care and psychological burden
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8865576/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35223757
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.788598
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