PO-1506 Psychological impact of COVID 19 pandemic in cancer patients: a cross sectional observational study

Purpose or Objective: On 30 January 2020,WHO declared the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID19).As cancer patients are already considered at increased risk of persistent depressive and anxiety disorders, the aim of this study was to evaluate psycological impact of the COVID19 pandemic in these patients.Psychological counseling services were offered to patients who showed anxiety and stress above selected cut off levels. Materials and Methods: All consecutive adult cancer outpatients between April and May 2020 were prospectively enrolled in this study and therefore received structured and validated ad-hoc questionnaires.Emotional distress was measured by means of visual scale.The structured questionnaire consisted of questions covering several areas such as knowledge and concerns about COVID19,the psychological impact of the COVID19 outbreak and mental health.Validated self-assessment questionnaires for the evaluation of psychological functioning and resilience skills were:1)Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale(CD-RISC-25) investigating five factors of resilience;2)Beck Depression Inventory-II(BDI-II)consisting of 21 items evaluating the severity of depression;3)State and Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI-¬TRAIT-Y) investigating the anxiety-trait and anxiety-state. Results: A total of 208 patients completed the survey with a participation rate of 99%. Most of patients(79.3%) were in treatment and 20.7% in follow up.70 patients(42.7%) received palliation treatment and 94(57.3%) curative treatment. Patients who cohabited with others declared themselves to be more resilient;the COVID related physical concern is worse in those with lung cancer than in other cancers and in those on active treatment compared to follow up. COVID-related physical concern correlates significantly with depression, distress, and state and trait anxiety. (Figure Presented) Conclusion: During COVID19,depression and emotionality were limited in our patients.Physical concern,as expected due to the cancer diagnosis,was present in this cohort of patients and was higher in treatment compared with follow up patients.COVID19 worsens Trait-Anxiety in all patients.