International Journal of General Medicine (Sep 2022)

Resilience as a Source of Easement to Health-Related Worries in Women at Increased Risk for Breast or Ovarian Cancer During the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Schwab R,
  • Droste A,
  • Stewen K,
  • Elger T,
  • Theis S,
  • Heimes AS,
  • Peters K,
  • Schmidt M,
  • Brenner W,
  • Hasenburg A

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 15
pp. 7039 – 7052

Abstract

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Roxana Schwab, Annika Droste, Kathrin Stewen, Tania Elger, Susanne Theis, Anne-Sophie Heimes, Katharina Peters, Marcus Schmidt, Walburgis Brenner, Annette Hasenburg Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, 55131, GermanyCorrespondence: Roxana Schwab, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Medical Center of the Johannes, Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, 55131, Germany, Tel +49-6131-17-0, Fax +49-6131-17-5692, Email [email protected]: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected individuals’ and society’s physical and psychological well-being. The study was conducted in order to assess the predictors for health-related worries during the COVID-19 pandemic in vulnerable populations.Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey of women who had a higher risk of developing breast cancer (BC) or ovarian cancer (OC) was conducted, regardless of whether they had experienced an active malignant disease during the pandemic. A self-reported questionnaire was designed for this study to assess health-related worries. The PHQ-4 questionnaire was used to evaluate mental health, and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) questionnaire was employed to investigate resilience.Results: History of BC or OC was recognized as an independent significant risk factor for worries regarding being more susceptible to a more severe course of COVID-19 disease (OR 3.593; 95% CI 1.030– 12.536; p = 0.045). High scores in the BRS questionnaire were negatively correlated with health-related worries, such as an increased risk for occurrence of BC or OC (OR 0.332; 95% CI 0.118– 0.933; p = 0.37) or worsening of oncological outcome as a result of an infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus (OR 0.330; 95% I 0.114– 0.956; p = 0.041).Conclusion: The obtained findings determined resilience as an independent and potent protective parameter in terms of health-related concerns in women at high risk for BC and OC. The results may assist in identifying women at risk for health-related concerns during adverse life events, allowing healthcare providers to respond fast and according to the patients´ needs.Keywords: health-related worries, resilience, mental health, COVID-19, BRCA 1 & 2

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