Anxiety and cognitive impairment in elderly patients with gastrointestinal cancers

Introduction. Gastrointestinal cancer is a major healthcare problem in Russia, especially among elderly patients. Anxiety and cognitive disfunction are undersrudied in those patients. Aim. To evaluate in a pre-operative fashion the prevalence of anxiety and cognitive impairment in patients with different gastrointestinal tumors. Materials and methods. We performed a retrospective analysis of anxiety according to HADS scale and cognitive function by MoCA test in 297 patients operated between 2012-2015 for colon (54%), stomach (21%), liver (17%) and rectum (8%) tumors. Patients in the age 60-74 years constituted 35%, 75 years and older - 34% of the whole cohort. Results. We found a correlation between age and anxiety level as well as age and cognitive impairment, Spearman correlation 0.77 and 0.79, respectively. No differences according to tumor location or patient sex were shown. Anxiety didn't influence the length of hospital stay regardless presence of complications. Conclusion. An individualized oncopsychological assessment and tailored approach to treatment shall be developed in patients with gastrointestinal cancers according to anxiety and cognitive impairment.