Abstract:
Anxiety and depression are major mental health problems among patients with cancer.
It affects patient outcomes, leading to higher mortality rates. Despite the high burden of anxiety and
depression in cancer patients, research on mental health problems and underlying factors
in this populations is limited in the eastern part of Ethiopia, especially in the study area, Harari regional
state, eastern Ethiopia. Objective: To assess the magnitude of anxiety and depression and associated
factors among adult patients with cancer attending treatments at Hiwot Fana Comprehensive Specialized
Hospital oncology center, Harari Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia from August 01, 2023 to September 31,
2023. Method: An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 adult patients with
cancer. Systematic sampling technique was used to recruit participants. To assess anxiety and depression
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used. Data was entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and exported
to SPSS version 23 for analysis. The collected data was cleaned and coded before analysis. Binary logistic
regression was used and those variables with a p-value of <0.25 in the binary logistic regression were
considered and transferred to multi-variable logistic regression. A value of p-value <0.05 was considered
statistically significant. The 95% confidence interval and adjusted odds ratio was used to show the strength
of association.
Results: A total of 414 patients with cancer participated in this study, of which 57% (95%CI 52.2% to
62%) and 62.3% (95%CI 57.3% to 66.7%) had anxiety and depression, respectively. Advanced stage of
disease, stage VI (adjusted OR (AOR) = 3.44, 95%CI (1.176 to 10.087)), pain severity (moderate pain
(AOR=3.53, 95%CI: 1.095 to 11.38)) and sever pain (AOR=5.038, 95 %( 1.54 to 16.484 and poor
performance status (AOR=3.021, 95%CI (1.82 to 5.014)) were foctors associated with anxiety.
Additionally, advanced stage of the disease, stage IV ((AOR) = 3.252, 95%CI (1.111 to 9.516)), severe
pain (AOR=4.65 95%CI (1.473 to 14.676)) and poor performance status (AOR=2.961, 95%CI (1.801 to
4.867)) were significantly associated with depression.
Conclusion and Recommendation: The magnitude of anxiety and depression was 57% and 62.3%
respectively. Advanced stage of disease, increased severity of pain and poor performance status were
associated factors for both anxiety and depression symptoms among patients with cancer.
Onco-psychotherapy integration efforts should be needed to improve anxiety and depression symptoms
among patients with cancer.
