Investigating the relationships between social support and hospital anxiety- depression with quality of life in geriatric cancer outpatients under oncology treatments

Increasing life expectancy leads to more cancer incidence in older people, consider that preservation and improvement of Quality of Life (QoL) is a major goal of geriatric oncology and examining the factors affecting QoL is very important, this study aimed to explore the relationship between social support and hospital anxiety-depression with QoL in the geriatric cancer outpatients under oncology treatments. This cross-sectional study was conducted from June to September 2023, on 300 elderly aged 60 ≥ and over, who received at least two sessions of chemotherapy or radiotherapy and or both, selected from a cancer institute of a general hospital in Tehran, Iran. Data sampling was collected by demographic/clinical questionnaires (need help in doing ADLs (Activities of Daily Living), number of comorbidities, cancer types, and stage), and tools (MSPSS (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support ), HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), and EORTC QLQ-C30 (EORTC QLQ C-30, European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire)) to analyze. Significant positive relationships between social support with global health status/QoL scale (P < 0.0001) and functional scales (P < 0.001) were observed, but a negative relationship between social support and symptom scales (P < 0.05) was noted. Also, significant negative relationships between hospital anxiety (P < 0.001) and depression (P < 001) with global health status/QoL scale (P < 0.001) and functional scales (P < 0.001) were observed, but there was a significant positive relationship between hospital anxiety (P < 0.05) and depression (P < 0.05) with symptom scales. So, more social support and less anxiety and depression were related to better global health status/QoL scale, better functional scales, and lower symptoms/problems. Considering the positive role of social support and mental health in improving QoL, carrying out interventions to increase better social support sources (family, friends, and other important people) and preventing or reducing anxiety and depression could be effective in improving QoL in cancer geriatric outpatients.