Screening for psychosocial distress in patients with hematological malignancies and identifying specific factors associated with distress throughout phase of disease

Abstract

The diagnosis of a hematological malignancy and its treatment can lead to symptoms and problems that affect quality of life. An important task of the healthcare system is to assess, monitor, and prevent such symptoms and problems in order to help patients live as fully as possible with their disease. Despite a general acknowledgment of the importance of the patients' health related quality of life (HRQoL), relatively few studies have investigated this issue in hematological patients. The purpose of this study was to measure the level of distress and identify factors that were associated with distress in patients with a hematological malignancy. The population of interest for this study includes individuals receiving care at the Gundersen Lutheran Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders for hematological disorders consisting of Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL), Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL), Multiple Myeloma (MM), and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). Patients with hematological malignancies coming to Gundersen Lutheran to receive care from a hematology physician were asked to complete the NCCN Distress Thermometer and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) stress surveys. If distress was indicated through these measures, medical records were scanned to check for a medical history of anxiety, depression, and other distress symptoms in general.