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Loneliness and social isolation have been significant problems for the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, but for cancer patients these issues were particularly acute, likely due to isolation and social distancing, according to a new UC San Francisco study.

The study, which is the first to evaluate loneliness, anxiety, depression, fatigue and other symptoms in a single group of patients, is published in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

“We found that oncology patients were experiencing a deep sense of loneliness,” said first author Christine Miaskowski, RN, PhD, a professor in the UCSF School of Nursing.

“For these patients, the burden of their symptoms is extremely high, and oncology clinicians can suggest a number of strategies to help them,” she said. “Patients should be encouraged to maintain contact with family and friends, and structure their daily routines when possible, through outdoor activities for example, as well as to maintain a healthy diet and sufficient sleep. These suggestions might mitigate some of the negative effects of loneliness.”

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the forefront a pervasive sense of loneliness in the lay population, but the effects have not been well studied in oncology patients. The new survey, administered in late May 2020, evaluated the severity of loneliness, social isolation and related symptoms – such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, cognitive dysfunction and pain – in a sample of 606 oncology patients.

Altogether, 53 percent were found to be in the lonely group, which was higher than the range reported prior to the pandemic (32 percent - 47 percent). About a third had moderately high degrees of loneliness, and 5.3 percent reported high levels of depression

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根據(jù)加州大學(xué)舊金山分校的一項新研究，在 COVID-19 大流行期間，孤獨和社會孤立一直是普通人群面臨的重大問題，但對于癌癥患者而言，這些問題尤其嚴(yán)重，可能是由于孤立和社會疏遠(yuǎn)所致。

這項研究，這是第一個在病人的一個小組，評估孤獨，焦慮，抑郁，乏力等癥狀，被刊登在 癌癥，美國癌癥學(xué)會的同行評議期刊。

“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)腫瘤患者正經(jīng)歷著深深的孤獨感，”第一作者、加州大學(xué)舊金山分校護(hù)理學(xué)院教授、注冊護(hù)士、博士Christine Miaskowski說 。

“對于這些患者來說，他們的癥狀負(fù)擔(dān)非常重，腫瘤臨床醫(yī)生可以提出一些幫助他們的策略，”她說�！皯�(yīng)鼓勵患者與家人和朋友保持聯(lián)系，并在可能的情況下安排他們的日常生活，例如通過戶外活動，以及保持健康的飲食和充足的睡眠。這些建議可能會減輕孤獨的一些負(fù)面影響�！�

COVID-19 大流行使非專業(yè)人群普遍存在孤獨感，但尚未對腫瘤患者的影響進(jìn)行充分研究。這項于 2020 年 5 月下旬進(jìn)行的新調(diào)查評估了 606 名腫瘤患者樣本中孤獨、社會孤立和相關(guān)癥狀（如焦慮、抑郁、疲勞、睡眠障礙、認(rèn)知功能障礙和疼痛）的嚴(yán)重程度。

總共有 53% 的人被發(fā)現(xiàn)屬于孤獨組，高于大流行之前報告的范圍（32% - 47%）。大約三分之一的人有中等程度的孤獨感，5.3% 的人報告有高度的抑郁癥。

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