Psychosocial Response and Symptom Burden for Male Smokers with Lung Cancer

Abstract

Purpose: Cigarette smoking causes many kinds of cancer, and it is more closely related with lung cancer,rather than other cancers. Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer and ninety percent of the smokers aremale in China, but there is little published data concerning the psychological responses in the male smokerswith lung cancer and its influence on the symptom burden. The aim of the study was to verify the hypothesisthat male smokers with lung cancer have more positive attitude and less symptom burden, comparing to malenon-smokers. <br/><b>Methods</b>: A total of 194 men with cancer in West China Hospital, Sichuan, China, were assessedby self-administered questionnaire. Psychological response was measured by the Chinese version of Mini-MentalAdjustment to Cancer scale (Mini-MAC), and symptom burden was measured by the physical symptom distressscale from the Rotterdam Symptom Checklist (RSCL). <br/><b>Results</b>: We found that smokers with lung cancer gothigher scores in positive attitude and a smaller symptom burden than non-smokers. Patients with education lowerthan high school got higher scores of positive attitude compared to college graduate patients (p=0.038). Smokerswith lung cancer who knew the potential carcinogenicity of cigarette showed less negative emotions (p=0.011).The psychological response was not affected by age, clinical stage, cell type, smoking duration and amount.<br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Male smokers with lung cancer have a more positive attitude and fewer symptoms, comparing tomale non-smokers. Appropriate psychological intervention for non-smokers with lung cancer deserves moreattention.