Comparison of generalised anxiety levels in the relatives of patients diagnosed with cancer at Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine before and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Comparison of generalised anxiety levels in the relatives of patients diagnosed with cancer at Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine before and after the COVID-19 pandemic Objective: This study was conducted on the relatives of patients who applied to the medical oncology outpatient clinic. By applying the generalised anxiety scale (GAD-7) to the relatives of patients diagnosed with cancer, it was investigated whether there was a significant increase in generalised anxiety levels before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: The data collected in the study were analysed using the statistical software package SPSS 27 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences - IBM®). The kurtosis and skewness coefficients were analysed to determine the conformity of the GAD-7 scale scores to normal distribution. The conformity of continuous variables to normal distribution was analysed by Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests. The kurtosis and skewness values of the scale score between +1.5 and -1.5 were considered sufficient for normal distribution. Results: The study included 214 relatives of patients receiving treatment at the Oncology Clinic of Akdeniz University Hospital. 62.1% of the participants were female; mean age was 46.37±13.818 years; median age was 46 years. Participants with psychiatric disease, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia, thyroid disease, peripheral arterial disease, migraine were found to have higher GAD-7 scores before and after Covid-19 than those without. Among the participants with chronic diseases, only participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus had lower GAD-7 scores before and after Covid-19 than those without. Female participants had significantly higher pre- and post-Covid-19 GAD-7 scores than male participants. In the comparison between groups after post-hoc Bonferroni correction; it was found that individuals living with their families had higher GAD-7 scores in the post-Covid-19 period compared to individuals living with their spouses, and GAD-7 scores increased statistically significantly after Covid-19 compared to pre-Covid-19. In the examination of the change in GAD-7 scores before and after Covid-19; it was found that 122 participants had a higher post-Covid-19 score than the pre-Covid-19 score, 25 participants had a lower post-Covid-19 score than the pre-Covid-19 score, and 67 participants had no change. In the pre-Covid-19 period, GAD-7 scores ranged between 0 and 19, the mean was 3.4±3.94, and most values ranged between 0 and 10. In the post-Covid-19 period, it was found that the GAD-7 scores ranged between 0-21, the mean was 6.3±6.23, and most values were between 0 and 10. The mean score after Covid-19 was found to be higher than before. Conclusion: The fact that the GAD-7 scores of the relatives of patients diagnosed with cancer were significantly higher in the pre-Covid-19 period compared to the post-Covid-19 period shows that relatives of cancer patients are concerned about their loved ones during the pandemic period. The reason for this anxiety is the high mortality rate in people with chronic diseases and cancer during the pandemic period. Family physicians working in primary care can reduce the anxiety of these people by supporting, informing, and answering their questions in an understandable way both during the pandemic period and in normal times. Key words: COVID-19 pandemic, generalised anxiety disorder, patient relatives, cancer, GAD-7.