TY - JOUR
T1 - The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health and Cognitive Function in Patients With Cancer
T2 - A Systematic Literature Review
AU - Almeida, Sílvia
AU - Frasquilho, Diana
AU - Cordeiro, M. Teresa
AU - Neto, Teresa
AU - Sousa, Berta
AU - Cardoso, Fátima
AU - Oliveira-Maia, Albino J
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is financed by national funds through the Research 4 Covid\u201019 special support from the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P, under the project nr.411. B.S. and A.J.O.\u2010M. were supported by the BOUNCE project (grant agreement number 777167), and A.J.O.\u2010M. is supported by the FAITH project (grant agreement number 875358), both funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. Funding:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Cancer Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2024/10
Y1 - 2024/10
N2 - Background: The COVID-19 pandeminc has had widespread impacts, but its specific effects on mental health and cognitive function in patients with cancer remain under-explored. Recent Findings: Data from the general population has suggested that mental health problems were frequent during the pandemic, namely during the initial stage of the outbreak. For patients with cancer, a systematic review and meta-analysis of data published until January 2021 also showed elevated prevalence of depression and anxiety, and suggested that anxiety was more frequent than in health workers and healthy controls. Objective: This systematic review aimed to synthesize existing evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and cognitive function in patients with cancer. Methods: Studies were identified through systematic search of three electronic bibliographic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and EBSCOHOST) with adapted search strings. We included only peer-reviewed, nonqualitative, original research papers, published between 2019 and 2022, and reporting on mental health and/or cognition outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in adult patients with cancer. Results: Of 3260 papers identified, 121 full text articles were retrieved and 71 met inclusion criteria. We found that patients with cancer reported high levels of psychological distress, anxiety and depression, as well as cognitive complaints during the pandemic. However, studies were not consistent in identifying these symptoms as effects of the pandemic specific for this population. In fact, longitudinal studies did not find consistent differences between pre- and post-pandemic periods and, globally, patients with cancer did not report increased severity of these mental health symptoms in relation to the general population. Conclusion: Overall, while the COVID-19 pandemic may have raised mental health challenges for patients with cancer, the diagnosis of cancer and associated treatments seemed to remain the main source of concern for these patients.
AB - Background: The COVID-19 pandeminc has had widespread impacts, but its specific effects on mental health and cognitive function in patients with cancer remain under-explored. Recent Findings: Data from the general population has suggested that mental health problems were frequent during the pandemic, namely during the initial stage of the outbreak. For patients with cancer, a systematic review and meta-analysis of data published until January 2021 also showed elevated prevalence of depression and anxiety, and suggested that anxiety was more frequent than in health workers and healthy controls. Objective: This systematic review aimed to synthesize existing evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and cognitive function in patients with cancer. Methods: Studies were identified through systematic search of three electronic bibliographic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and EBSCOHOST) with adapted search strings. We included only peer-reviewed, nonqualitative, original research papers, published between 2019 and 2022, and reporting on mental health and/or cognition outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in adult patients with cancer. Results: Of 3260 papers identified, 121 full text articles were retrieved and 71 met inclusion criteria. We found that patients with cancer reported high levels of psychological distress, anxiety and depression, as well as cognitive complaints during the pandemic. However, studies were not consistent in identifying these symptoms as effects of the pandemic specific for this population. In fact, longitudinal studies did not find consistent differences between pre- and post-pandemic periods and, globally, patients with cancer did not report increased severity of these mental health symptoms in relation to the general population. Conclusion: Overall, while the COVID-19 pandemic may have raised mental health challenges for patients with cancer, the diagnosis of cancer and associated treatments seemed to remain the main source of concern for these patients.
KW - anxiety
KW - cancer
KW - COVID-19 pandemic
KW - depression
KW - mental health
KW - systematic review
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85207030672&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/cnr2.70008
DO - 10.1002/cnr2.70008
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85207030672
SN - 2573-8348
VL - 7
JO - Cancer Reports
JF - Cancer Reports
IS - 10
M1 - e70008
ER -
