Effects Of Psychology And Nutrition On The Treatment And Rehabilitation Of Cancer Patients

ObjectiveThe aims of this paper are to investigate the mental health status and nutritional status of cancer patients and their influencing factors, analyze the association between psychological status, nutritional status and side-effects of radiotherapy/chemotherapy for the cancer patients, and study the effects of psychological and nutritional status of the patients on their rehabilitation.MethodsOur sample was consisted of 1121 cancer patients who were undergone the treatments in four province-level hospitals in Fuzhou city during the periods from November, 2005 to October, 2006. The cases were surveyed by trained interviewers with constructed questionnaires. Logistic model was used to analyze the influencing factors of the mental health status, nutritional status and side-effects of radiotherapy/chemotherapy for the cancer patients. Liner regression model and the composed index method were used to analyze the effects of psychology and nutrition on the rehabilitation of cancer patients. All of the data analyze were performed with the SPSS version 13.0 and SAS 6.12.Results1. The prevalence of anxiety and depression was high among the cancer patients, with 76.6% and 63.07%, respectively. The association of anxiety and depression was significant (coefficient, 0.654). The more anxiety and more depressed, the more serious side-effects occurred. The malnourished rate among cancer patients was 41.4%, the malnourished cancer patients had more probability to suffer from and side-effects than those with good nutrition conditions.2. The influencing factors of the side-effects of chemotherapy/radiation therapy were age(OR=0.833, 95%CI:0.725~0.958), other assisting therapies(OR=0.653, 95%CI:0.467~0.914), appetite(OR=0.657, 95%CI:0.557~0.775), human protein (OR=0.772, 95%CI:0.575~1.037), taken nutrient(OR=0.710, 95%CI:0.493~1.021), sex(OR=1.751, 95%CI:1.292~2.373), the stage of cancer(OR=1.216, 95%CI:1.057~1.399).3. The influencing factors of rehabilitation were depression(P<0.05), the situation of taking foods(P<0.05), acceptance-resignation(P<0.05), the stage of cancer(P<0.05), human protein(P<0.05), appetite(P<0.05), other assisting therapies(P<0.05), the response to the chemotherapy/radiation therapy(P<0.05), the main paramedic(P<0.05). Three composed variables were taken from the nine influencing variables of rehabilitation: mental health, nutrition and therapy and nursing. Their weight of influence on the rehabilitation of cancer were 0.37,0.34 and 0.29, respectively.4. The influencing factors of anxiety were age(OR=0.798, 95%CI:0.691~0.922), appetite(OR=0.760, 95%CI:0.642~0.899), educational degree(OR=0.871, 95%CI:0.778~0.975),the main paramedic(OR=0.658, 95%CI:0.441~0.981), the fear of cancer(OR=4.005, 95%CI:2.330~6.886), cancer understanding(OR=1.565, 95%CI:1.155~2.121), adding nutrient understanding(OR=1.688, 95%CI:0.997~2.860), the rehabilitation exercise understanding(OR=1.954, 95%CI:1.006~3.794).5. The influencing factors of depression were educational degree(OR=0.885, 95%CI:0.798~0.982), appetite(OR=0.644, 95%CI:0.541~0.765), the situation of taking food(OR=0.659, 95%CI:0.483~0.899),other assisting therapies(OR=0.662, 95%CI:0.470~0.931) , the main paramedic(OR=0.654, 95%CI:0.454~0.943), the adapation to hospital(OR=0.789, 95%CI:0.602~1.035) ,the fear of cancer(OR=2.902, 95%CI:1.939~4.343), cancer understanding(OR=1.931, 95%CI:1.468~2.540), the rehabilitation exercise understanding(OR=2.757, 95%CI:1.610~4.723).6. The influencing factors of nutrition were appetite(OR=0.878, 95%CI:0.755~1.021), the situation of taking food(OR=0.710, 95%CI:0.541~0.931), age(OR=1.183, 95%CI:1.049~1.335), sex(OR=1.419, 95%CI:1.103~1.825). ConclusionsThe prevalent rates of anxiety, depression and malnutrition were high among cancer patients. The mental health and nutrition condition had more weights of effecting than cancer treatments and nursing on the rehabilitation of cancer patients. The patients'mental health status can be improved by teaching them cancer-related lessons so that their error understanding of cancer can be changed. The patients nutritional status can be enhanced by improving their appetite and food intake.