Lou Y, et al., J Pulm Med Respir Res 2021 7: 063 DOI: 10.24966/PMRR-0177/100063 HSOA Journal of Pulmonary Medicine and Respiratory Research Research Article score was 0.9578 ± 0.0634, and the EQ-5D-5L utility was negatively Effects of Pulmonary Nodules correlated with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) score (R on Patient Anxiety and Health- = −0.3495, P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Female patients were more anxious than male Related Quality of Life patients. If patients have seen the pulmonary nodules on CT themselves, this can increase the anxiety levels. If a doctor has told a patient that pulmonary nodules are common before CT imaging, Yueyan Lou1, Bijun Fan1, Liyan Zhang1, Bin Wu2, Yujie Fu3, this can reduce the anxiety levels. The evaluation of the health- Xiaodong Wang4, Xueling Wu1*, Xiaoming Tan1* and Yu related quality of life of patients with pulmonary nodules with the Zheng1* EQ-5D-5L utility is acceptable, but its value is negatively correlated with the IES-R score. 1Department of Pulmonology, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China Keywords: Anxiety; Communication; Pulmonary nodules; 2Department of Pharmacy, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University Questionnaire; Survey School of Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China 3Department of thoracic surgery, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong Universi- ty School of Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China Abbreviations 4Department of Rheumatology, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University CT: Computed Tomography School of Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China EQ-5D-5L: five-level EuroQol 5-Dimension IES-R: Impact of Event Scale-Revised HRQOL: Health-Related Quality of Life Abstract Introduction Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological and health status of patients with pulmonary nodules. With the popularization of Computed Tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer, the detection rate of pulmonary nodules is increasing Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of the incidental pulmonary nodules in adults. [1]. Most pulmonary nodules do not develop into lung cancer [2], but most patients with pulmonary nodules undergo more than 2 years Results: Female patients were more anxious than male patients of follow-up to ensure that pulmonary nodules are not enlarged [3]. (P = 0.036). Univariate analysis indicated that the size of the pulmonary nodules (P = 0.041), having seen the pulmonary nodules However, most pulmonary nodules do not eventually develop into (P = 0.001), and doctors having said that pulmonary nodules are lung cancer [4]. During the first discovery and long-term follow-up, common (P = 0.006) could influence anxiety in patients. Multivariate the psychological pressure on patients can be high. The Impact of analysis found that age (P = 0.010), monthly income (P = 0.014), Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) is a self-assessment scale based on 22 nodule size (P = 0.038), and having seen the pulmonary nodules on questions, which is commonly used in screening anxiety and depression Computed Tomography (CT) (P = 0.002) can affect the anxiety levels [5]. We screened patients with pulmonary nodules for anxiety and of patients. The five-level EuroQol 5-dimension (EQ-5D-5L) utility depression with the IES-R scale to find out (i) The psychological state of patients with pulmonary nodules and (ii) Whether these patients *Corresponding authors: Yu Zheng, Department of Pulmonology, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. need psychological intervention treatment, because anxiety and China, Tel: +86 021 3450 6271; E-mail: dr [email protected] depression disorders are related to significantly lower Health-Related Xiaoming Tan, Department of Pulmonology, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong Quality of Life (HRQOL). The five-level EuroQol 5-Dimension University School of Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China, Tel: +86 021 3450 6271; (EQ-5D-5L) utility is a frequently used generic measure of the E-mail: [email protected] HRQOL, which captures mental health through a single domain, that Xueling Wu, Department of Pulmonology, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong is, the anxiety/depression dimension. It can be used in clinical and University School of Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China, Tel: +86 021 3450 6271; economic evaluations of healthcare, and in assessing public health E-mail: [email protected] [6]. Therefore, we also included EQ-5D-5L in this study. Based on Citation: Lou Y, Fan B, Zhang L, Wu B, Fu Y, et al. (2021) Effects of Pulmonary the above studies, we hypothesized that the prevalence of anxiety Nodules on Patient Anxiety and Health-Related Quality of Life. J Pulm Med Respir Res 7: 063. and depression in patients with pulmonary nodules is high, and their mental health is affected to varying degrees. Effective communication Received: April 01, 2021; Accepted: April 19, 2021; Published: April 26, 2021 between doctors and patients about pulmonary nodules can reduce the Copyright: © 2021 Lou Y, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under degree of anxiety and depression. We (i) Characterized the prevalence the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestrict- ed use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author of anxiety and depression in patients with pulmonary nodules and (ii) and source are credited. Identified the risk factors for anxiety. Citation: Lou Y, Fan B, Zhang L, Wu B, Fu Y, et al. (2021) Effects of Pulmonary Nodules on Patient Anxiety and Health-Related Quality of Life. J Pulm Med Respir Res 7: 063. • Page 2 of 6 • Methods Overall N = 178 Participants were pulmonary nodules patients admitted to the Gender,%* Renji Hospital South Campus between July 2018 and July 2019. Male/female 43.8%/56.2% Inclusion criteria were the following: Newly reported, incidental Mean age, years (SD) 51 (13.2) (not screen-detected) nodules less than 3 cm in diameter, with plans Friends or family with lung cancer, % for non-urgent CT follow-up. Exclusion criteria were the following: Yes/no 21.3%/78.7% Living in a nursing facility, has been diagnosed with lung cancer, Smoking status, % mental illness or cognitive impairment, and terminal illness. A total No, but with smoking history 14.0% of 178 patients met the criteria and were included. The participants Yes 20.8% No 65.2% answered the questionnaire we designed face-to-face. Highest education,% Questionnaire Design Illiteracy 3.4% Primary school 12.9% We designed a questionnaire to assess the psychological and Junior high school 34.8% Senior high school 20.8% health status of patients with pulmonary nodules, which included: (i) College or higher 28.1% Basic clinical characteristics; (ii) Communication between doctors Monthly income,% and patients about pulmonary nodules; (iii) The IES-R scale; and (iv) Less than 3000 RMB (approx. 425 USD) 30.9% The EQ-5D-5L utility, which is comprised of five domains, that is, 3000-6000 RMB (425-850 USD) 36.0% 6000-10000 RMB (850-1400 USD) 21.3% mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and emotions [6]. More than 10000 RMB (approx. 1400 USD) 11.8% Scores for the different domains range from 1 to 5, where a high score Marriage,% indicates a low quality of life [7]. The EQ-5D-5L score was calculated Unmarried 4.5% after the construction of the EQ-5D-5L profile. The integral EQ-5D-5L Married 93.8% utility system based on Chinese population preferences was adopted Divorced 1.7% Children in school,% [8]. Before implementation of the questionnaire, it was evaluated by Yes/no 32.6%/67.4% three experts in lung cancer-related and statistics-related fields. Ten Time since nodule detection,% patients with pulmonary nodules who met the criteria initially took Less than 1 day 26.4% the questionnaire. The final questionnaire contained 38 questions. The 0-3 months 11.2% 3-6 months 10.1% participants answered the questionnaire face to face. 6-12 months 9.0% More than 12 months 43.3% Data Analyses Nodule size,% Less than 3 mm 29.8% Data were checked and cleaned using SPSS version 25.0 and Prism 3-6 mm 50.0% 6.0 prior to analysis. Descriptive analysis was used to determine the 6-8 mm 15.2% More than 8 mm 5.1% overall patient IES-R score, the EQ-5D-5L score, and participants’ Table 1: Clinical characteristics of patients with pulmonary nodules (N = 178). clinical outcomes. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the IES-R *Female patients are more anxious than male patients, as indicated by one-way ANO- score between different groups. Univariate and multivariate logistic VA of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised scores (P = 0.036). regression analyses were performed to determine the risk factors of anxiety. The correlation of the IES-R score with the EQ-5D-5L score was established by the Pearson correlation coefficient test. All data Doctor-patient communication on issues related to pulmo- are presented as mean ± Standard Deviation (SD). A P-value < 0.05 nary nodules was considered to indicate statistical significance in all statistical analyses. We investigated whether communication between doctors and patients on pulmonary nodules prior to the discovery of the Results nodules could reduce anxiety in patients after the discovery of Basic clinical characteristics pulmonary nodules. Therefore, several statements about doctor- patient communication on pulmonary nodules were included in the A total of 178 patients met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The questionnaire: (i) Your doctor pointed out pulmonary nodules are questionnaire included questions about whether friends or relatives common. (ii) Your doctor pointed out the uncertainty of pulmonary had lung cancer, smoking status, education, monthly income, marital nodules. (iii) Your doctor clearly pointed out the possibility of lung status, whether they had children attending school, and the size of cancer.