Women suffer more extreme distress than men when diagnosed with cancer

Patients reported work, fatigue, and fear for the future as areas of life most extremely affected by cancer.

Women suffer with more extreme distress during cancer diagnosis and treatment than men, the first new Irish data in 10 years shows.

Up to 46% of women deal with extreme distress at diagnosis and 21% during treatment, compared to 18% of men at diagnosis and 5% during treatment while patients were likely to perceive their families as more distressed than themselves.

Patients reported work, fatigue, and fear for the future as areas of life most extremely affected by cancer while only 3% of patients reported extreme difficulties with relationships.

The cancer burden is rising worldwide, with 20m new diagnoses annually. Psychological needs of cancer patients are increasingly recognised, and psycho-oncology teams are developing.

The study, carried out jointly by St James’s Hospital, Departments of Psychiatry at St James’s Hospital, and Trinity College and Tallaght University Hospital of which 142 patients took part, shows that almost two thirds or 64% were female. Almost 91% of patients had no history of psychiatric or psychological difficulties and all adult age groups were analysed.

This is the first significant study of gender-based distress among Irish cancer patients in the last decade and includes all cancer types.

The study titled, Cancer patient distress — roles of gender, family and psychological care, published in this month’s Irish Medical Journal shows that, amongst women, the most common cancers were breast at almost 52%, gynaecological at 13% and colorectal at 8%, while lymphoma/leukaemia at 22%, colorectal at 18% and prostate/renal/bladder cancers at 18% were most common among men.

At the time of the study, 54% of patients had received their cancer diagnosis within the previous year, and almost one third were experiencing a recurrence. Chemotherapy was the most common treatment at 85%, followed by surgery at 40%, steroid treatment was received by 37% of patients, radiotherapy by 28%, hormonal therapy by 9%, bone marrow transplant by 6% and immunotherapy by 1%.

More than two thirds of patients rated their cancer diagnosis as very distressing, at 33%, or extremely distressing at 36%. Women experienced more distress than males, with 46% of women reporting extreme distress at their cancer diagnosis, compared to 18% of men.

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Distress at diagnosis for patients was not related to cancer type or history of psychiatric or psychological difficulty. Patients were more likely to perceive their families as extremely distressed compared to themselves.

The study co-authors point out that the high rates of extreme distress for cancer patients and their families in the study, “particularly among women", highlights the need for “enhanced provision of psychological support for patients during both cancer diagnosis and treatment”.