Prevalence and Risk Factors of Elevated Distress Among Patients Undergoing Screening for Lung Cancer

SESSION TITLE: Lung Cancer Screening & Diagnosis Posters SESSION TYPE: Original Investigation Poster PRESENTED ON: Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM PURPOSE: Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scanning has recently been recommended to screen patients at elevated risk of developing lung cancer, however, limited data exist describing distress experienced by this at-risk population. The purpose of this investigation is to describe the prevalence and risk factors of elevated distress among patients undergoing screening for lung cancer. METHODS: The validated National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer (DT) was used to evaluate distress prior to and following lung cancer screening among 175 patients attending the Center for Lung Cancer Screening and Prevention at the Stony Brook Cancer Center between September 30, 2013 and September 29, 2014. Clinically significant distress was defined by a score ≥4 on the DT instrument and logistic regression models were used to evaluate factors associated with high distress. RESULTS: Forty-three percent of study participants experienced elevated distress prior to screening, while one-third of patients reported distress scores ≥4 post-screening, despite being told of a non-cancerous finding. Risk factors for elevated distress before screening included female gender (p=0.01), age<60 years (p=0.04) and having a positive family history of lung cancer (p=0.05), while females and those with a positive personal history of a non-cancerous lung diagnosis (p=0.03) were associated with high distress after screening was complete. CONCLUSIONS: Although many new programs are establishing the necessary infrastructures to provide LDCT scans for their lung cancer screening patients, it is imperative that awareness is not lost on the patients' psychological well-being and the elevated levels of distress that may be present in this at-risk population prior to and following screening for lung cancer. These findings, based on the user friendly DT, support the need for distress monitoring and possible clinical intervention, as appropriate. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Elevated levels of distress pre- and post-screening may serve as barriers to care and negatively impact health-related quality of life, as well as the smoking cessation effort, among patients being screened for lung cancer. For these reasons, distress monitoring should be considered in lung cancer screening programs. DISCLOSURE: The following authors have nothing to disclose: April Plank, Sara Goldgraben, Barbara Nemesure No Product/Research Disclosure Information