Is fear of COVID-19 influencing cancer patients to report for follow-up? experience from a tertiary care oncology center in eastern India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20204829Keywords:
COVID-19, Fear, Gynecological cancer, Follow-up, Patient perspectiveAbstract
Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to the implementation of lockdown in India in March, 2020 which has posed a great challenge for both oncologic health care providers and cancer survivors alike as cancer patients have been unable to report for follow-up visits due to the same. The present study aims to assess the psychological impact of COVID -19 on female cancer patients undergoing treatment in a tertiary care oncology centre in Eastern India.
Methods: The present study is a prospective cross-sectional study conducted on 80 female patients who were undergoing treatment for various gynecologic malignancies at a tertiary care oncology cancer centre in Eastern India. Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) was used to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 among the study population. Telephonic interviews were also conducted to collect data. Data was analysed using Microsoft excel and Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.
Results: Seventy-eight percent of the patients were afraid of contracting COVID-19 on coming out of their house, higher number of poorly educated patients had fear of the COVID-19 infection. Fifty-one percent patients were ‘very fearful’ of the COVID-19 infection and the most common cause of fear was of ‘losing life due to corona virus’. Eighty-six percent of the patients found talking to the doctor telephonically reassuring.
Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has instilled fear and anxiety among the patients of gynecological cancer preventing them to report for follow-up. Alternative strategies need to explored to render effective follow-up care to oncology patients.
References
The coronavirus status update. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/. Accessed on 15 April, 2020.
Bansal N, Ghafur A. COVID‑19 in oncology settings. Cancer Res Stat Treat. 2020;3:13-4.
Yu J, Ouyang W, Chua MLK, Xie C. SARS-CoV-2 transmission in patients with cancer at a tertiary care hospital in Wuhan, China. JAMA Oncol. 2020.
Liang W, Guan W, Chen R, Wang W, Li J, Xu K, et al. Cancer patients in SARS-CoV-2 infection: a nationwide analysis in China. Lancet Oncol. 2020;21:335-7.
World Health Organization advice for the public; 2020. World Health Organization. 2020. https://www.who.int.https://www.who.int/who-documents-detail/covid-19-and-ncds and https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks. Accessed on 1 April, 2020.
Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2018;68:394-424.
Dalal NV. Social issues faced by cancer patients during the coronavirus (COVID‑19) pandemic. Cancer Res Stat Treat. 2020;3:141-4.
Holland JC. History of psycho-oncology: Overcoming attitudinal and conceptual barriers. Psychosom Med. 2002;64:206-21.
Mendosa Rd, Appaya P. Psychiatric morbidity in outpatients of gynecological oncology clinic in a tertiary care hospital. Indian J Psychiatry. 2010;52(4):327-32.
Rajpal S, Kumar A, Joe W. Economic burden of cancer in India: Evidence from cross-sectional nationally representative household survey, 2014. PLoS One. 2018;13(2):e0193320.
Mertens G, Gerritsen L, Duijndam S, Salemink E, Engelhard IM. Fear of the coronavirus (COVID-19): Predictors in an online study conducted in March 2020. J Anxiety Disord. 2020;74:102258.
Asmundson GJG, Taylor S. Coronaphobia: Fear and the 2019-nCoV outbreak. J Anxiety Disord. 2020;70:102196.
Beaver K, Williamson S, Chalmers K. Telephone follow‐up after treatment for breast cancer: views and experiences of patients and specialist breast care nurses. J Clin Nurs. 19:2916-24.
Ahorsu DK, Lin CY, Imani V, Saffari M, Griffiths MD, Pakpour AH. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Development and Initial Validation. Internat J Ment Health Addic. 2020;1:713-21.
