Is it the Time to Implement the Routine Use of Distress Thermometer Among Egyptian Cancer Patients?

Background: Emotional distress is common among cancer patients (25-30 %), as a result of the serious diagnosis and suffering from aggressive treatment. This may negatively affect their participation in treatment, quality of life, and satisfaction with care. To best of our knowledge, it has not been studied before in Egypt, this study aims to implement the distress thermometer in Egyptian cancer patients as a screening tool for the distress and its associated factors. Methods: The Arabic version of DT that has been recently validated was used in this study to screen patients. Egyptian Patients diagnosed with different types of hematological malignancies and solid cancers who were following at three Oncology Centers (South Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University Hospital, and Mansura University Oncology department) were recruited. All Patients were asked to rate their distress in the past week on an 11-point visual analog scale ranging from 0 (no distress) to 10 (extreme distress), then, they were asked to fill in the Problem List (PL), to check whether or not they had any of the problems listed during the previous 7 days. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify the significant problems correlated with the patient distress at a cut-off score of 4. Results: A total of 550 patients agreed to participate. The mean age was 51.3 (18–85) years. Different types of solid and hematological malignancies were included; the most common three types were breast cancer (32.7 %), gastrointestinal cancer (23%), and hematological malignancies (15.5 %). The patients’ average DT score was 3.7. The most frequent problems were fatigue (49%), worry (47%), fear (44 %), and pain (42%). The univariate analysis showed a significant correlation between the DT at Cut – off the value of 4 and transportation, dealing with children, depression, fears, sadness, sleep, loss of usual activity, and fatigue. Multivariate analysis confirmed the transportation, depression, fears, sadness, sleep and fatigue as independent factors for such distress. Conclusion: Egyptian cancer patients are suffering from significant distress at a cut value of 4. We recommend the involvement of the psycho-oncology service for all cancer patients at the time of diagnosis.