Quality of life in cancer patients during the coronavirus 2019 pandemic: A systematic review study

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused various psychosocial problems in many people worldwide. Patients with cancer are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 because of their physical conditions. For this purpose, this research focused on reviewing studies on the quality of life (QoL) in cancer patients during the outbreak of COVID-19.

In this study, several keywords, including cancer, quality of life, and COVID-19, in the abstract and title of articles published in 2020 (May) and 2022 (June) in reputable international scientific databases were searched in Google Scholar, ISI, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and PubMed databases. The PRISMA checklist was used to review the quality of the articles.

Based on the reviewed studies, it was found that cancer patients had high levels of depression, anxiety, insomnia, stress, and death anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Home quarantine, fear of COVID-19, and limited access to a doctor and medication also reduced the QoL of cancer patients. Female gender, low income, old age, inappropriate lifestyle, lack of social support, low level of education, physical activity, marital status, and duration of illness were among the factors aggravating mental disorders in cancer.

The findings indicated a decrease in the QoL in cancer patients. Given that it is unclear how long COVID-19 mutates as a pandemic, tele-mental health care is one of the solutions that can improve the QoL of cancer patients by providing timely services.