Not Telling Patients Their Cancer Diagnosis in Egypt: Is It Associated With Less Anxiety and Depression and Better Quality of Life?

PURPOSE: In many countries, including Egypt, it is still believed that not telling patients their cancer diagnosis is associated with less psychological morbidity. This study was conducted to explore whether not telling Egyptian patients their cancer diagnosis is associated with less anxiety and depression and better quality-of-life (QoL) or not.

METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in two Egyptian cancer care facilities and included 292 adult patients with cancer of whom 197 (67%) were aware of their diagnosis and 95 (33%) were unaware. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to assess anxiety and depression and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General 7 questionnaire to assess QoL.

RESULTS: Patients unaware of their cancer diagnosis were significantly more likely to be less educated, with no family history of cancer, interviewed within 6 months of cancer diagnosis, diagnosed with a cancer other than breast and colorectal cancer, in a poorer performance status, and with no history of anticancer treatment. There was no significant difference between unaware and aware patients in the scores of HADS-Anxiety (median [interquartile range (IQR)] = 6 [3-11] and 7 [4-11], P = .203), HADS-Depression (median [IQR] = 8 [4-12] and 8 [4-11], P = .64), and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General 7 (median [IQR] = 16 [12-20] and 16 [11-21], P = .754). In multiple regression analysis with adjustment, diagnosis unawareness did not associate significantly with anxiety, depression, and QoL ( P = .394, .662, and .845, respectively).

CONCLUSION: The results of the current study confirm that not telling adult patients their cancer diagnosis is not associated with less anxiety and depression nor better QoL.