Symptom Burden in Patients Treated With Palliative Radiotherapy Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Anticancer Res
; 41(4): 1971-1974, 2021 Apr.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1168333
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIM:
Oncological care has faced several challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, e.g. treatment delay and worsening symptoms. Patient-reported anxiety, depression and sleep quality might have changed due to these special circumstances. Therefore, we analyzed the symptom burden of patients treated with palliative radiotherapy at our center. PATIENTS ANDMETHODS:
A retrospective study was performed of 50 consecutive patients and the results were compared to those obtained in a previous pre-COVID study. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale was employed to assess the preradiotherapy symptoms.RESULTS:
The highest mean scores were reported for pain in activity (3.2) and dry mouth (3.1). Regarding anxiety, sadness/depression and sleep, the corresponding scores were 1.5, 1.2 and 2.7, respectively. Compared to the previous study, no significant increases were found. Most items had numerically lower mean values, e.g. anxiety (1.5 vs. 2.7). Both study populations had comparable median age (70.5 vs. 70 years), gender distribution and proportion of patients with bone metastases. However, there were two significant imbalances, namely a lower proportion of patients with prostate cancer (12 vs. 30%, p=0.02) and breast cancer (0 vs. 12%, p=0.02).CONCLUSION:
In patients who showed up for radiation treatment planning, the suspected increase in anxiety, sadness/depression and sleep disturbance was not demonstrable. It is not known whether or not patients with substantial worries chose to decline referral to palliative radiotherapy. Therefore, comprehensive large-scale studies of patterns of care are needed to fully understand the impact of COVID-19-related measures.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Palliative Care
/
Cost of Illness
/
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Anticancer Res
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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