1774P The study of physical and mental distress among cancer patients during the COVID-19 epidemic

Background: In December 2019, an outbreak of respiratory infection in humans caused by a novel coronavirus was detected It is characterized by rapid human-to-human transmission leading to a pandemic spread Cancer care practice paradigms have drastically changed during this time and, consequently, cancer patients may exhibit psychological difficulties The purpose of this study is to assess the intensity of physical and mental distress among cancer patients during this pandemic Methods: 123 cancer patients hospitalised to receive chemotherapy at the oncology centre of the University Hospital of Marrakech were included from 23 March to 11 May 2020 This group consisted of 68 men and of 55 women Regarding the initial location of the cancer, the distribution was as follows: 10 cancers of breast and gynaecological origin, 19 gastrointestinal, 52 head and neck cancers, 5 urological, 28 pulmonary cancers and 9 sarcoma Twenty patients had a psychiatric history Of these, 11 had a history of depression In 5 patients, there was the notion of alcoholism Four patients had a history of anxiety disorders The assessment of psychological distress was carried out using 2 scales: 1 Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) 2 the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System Scale (ESAS) Results: The results of HADS showed 77 (62%) patients and 67 (54%) patients had anxiety and depression, respectively For both anxiety and depression, the gender difference was not statistically significant (chi-square test, P = 0 47) There was no difference between patients with a psychiatric history and those without (P = 0,39) For the ESAS, the most expressed symptom was financial distress (4;interquartile range 0-7) whereas all ESAS symptom assessment scores were moderate The majority of patients expressed their worry about being infected themselves (90%) or their family (85%), and of cancer progression due to delayed treatment (95%) Conclusions: During the outbreak of COVID-19, the vast majority of cancer patients (more than half) in our study developed anxiety, depression and fear of COVID-19 infection These results imply that cancer patients followed during the epidemic require serious psychosocial support focused on COVID-19-related fears Legal entity responsible for the study: Hematology Oncology Center Funding: Has not received any funding Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest