Long-term cancer survivors are twice as likely to experience psychological troubles that severely impair their ability to function in social, work or school situations compared to those who have never been diagnosed with the disease, new research suggests.
In particular, long-term cancer survivors who were 65 years of age or younger were more likely to suffer from severe psychological distress than patients older than 65.
As well, long-term survivors who were unmarried and living alone, who had not completed their high school education, were uninsured and were current or former smokers and who had difficulty with daily activities were more likely to suffer from severe distress compared to those who did not share these characteristics.
Long-term survivors are those who have lived five or more years after receiving their initial diagnosis.
"We hope these findings will raise awareness of the psychosocial needs of long-term cancer survivors and encourage routine psychological screening of these survivors," Dr. Karen Hoffman, lead study author and a radiation oncologist at Harvard, said in a statement. "Quick, low-cost psychological screening tests are available that can and should be performed during clinic visits."
The study's findings will be presented Wednesday at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's annual meeting in Boston.
Doctors and researchers have long known that cancer patients have high stress levels that are caused by a number of factors related to their illness.
Survivors often face:
- The challenge of adjusting to physical disabilities following surgery or treatment.
- Changes in their relationships with family, friends and co-workers.
- The fear that their cancer will return and that they will die from the disease.
For this study, the researchers evaluated more than 4,700 long-term survivors of adult-onset cancer and compared that data to more than 126,000 people who have never been diagnosed with the disease.
The study's subjects were found among respondents to the U.S. National Health Interview Survey that took place between 2002 and 2006.
The researchers measured psychological distress by how often subjects felt nervous, restless, hopeless, worthless and that everyday actions took a great deal of effort.
