Psychiatric Morbidity among Patients with Neoplasm

Background and objectives: Confronting a serious illness like cancer has the ability to trigger feelings of depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges in a considerable portion of patients. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in cancer patients. Methods: The research was carried out as a cross-sectional study to assess Psychiatric morbidity at Rizgary Teaching Hospital-Oncology department and Nanakali Hospital for Hematology and Oncology, in Erbil city, Iraq. The study was initiated in April 2023 until April 2024. General health questionnaire-28 was used as a screening tool to detect psychiatric morbidity among cancer patients. Results: The majority of the patients showed presence of psychiatric morbidity (59.6%) according to the General Health Questionnaire-28 scale. The mean General Health Questionnaire-28 score of the patients were 26.7±10, the mean score for somatic symptoms was 8.5±3.7, the mean score for anxiety and insomnia was 7.5±4.4, the mean score for social dysfunction was 7.6±1.2, and the mean score for severe depression was 3.3±3.9. Younger age is significantly associated with presence of psychiatric morbidity (46±9.52 vs. 51±6.33) (p=0.001). Gender was also significantly associated with having psychiatric morbidity, as females showed the highest prevalence (66.2%) compared to males (40%) (p<0.05). There is a statistically significant association, between type of treatment and presence of psychiatric morbidity(p=0.039). Conclusion: The mental health issues are prevalent among individuals with cancer. Factors such as age, gender, and treatment type play a significant role in determining the likelihood of these issues occurring.