The psychological health of patients diagnosed with cancer in Iraq during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A single center study

Objective The objective of this study was to assess the psychological health status of patients diagnosed with cancer in Iraq during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The study aim was to measure the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among patients diagnosed with cancer. Secondary aims were to assess the association between depression, anxiety, and stress with sociodemographic characteristics, cancer‐specific characteristics, patients' experience in healthcare visit, risk perception towards COVID‐19, and health concern during the outbreak. Methods A cross‐sectional study was conducted between September 1, 2020 and December 1, 2020 at an Oncology clinic in Baghdad. Included in the study were two hundred patients diagnosed with cancer. Data collected included: demographic variables (age, gender, residential location, marital status, education, employment status), clinical characteristics and cancer‐specific parameters (duration since cancer diagnosis, cancer type, treatment duration, clinic visits frequency), experience during the pandemic (skipping or postponing treatment or periodical tests, suffering from new body pain, fear of acquiring the infection, fear of health deterioration), as well as psychological health status (depression, anxiety, stress). Pain, risk perception towards COVID‐19, and health concern were measured using categorical Likert scale with responses being no, sometimes, and often. The psychological health status was measured by the “Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale” (DASS‐21). Cut‐off scores of the DASS‐21 greater than 9, 7, and 14 represent a positive screen of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. Results The prevalence of patients who screened positive for depression was 22.0%, anxiety 22.0%, and stress 13.5%. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress were significantly more in those who had university or higher education (34.3%, p‐value