Effect of Fear of Covid-19 Infection on Functionality in Breast Cancer Patients in the Pandemic

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly across the globe through coughing, sneezing, droplet inhalation, and contact.

The current studyaimedto assess the impact of the fear of COVID-19 infection on functionality in women with breast cancer.

The present study included women with diagnosed breast cancer (n=75) under treatment in Istanbul Florence Nightingale Hospitaland healthy (n=69) women( a total of 144 volunteers).The participants were asked to fill out the Sociodemographic Data Form, Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3), and FearofCOVID-19Scale to evaluate the impact of fear of infection and cleaningbehavior due to COVID-19 on functionality.

No statistically significant difference was found between the women with and without diagnosed breast cancer regarding the impact of fear of COVID-19 infection on all functionality parameters (all parameters: P>0.05). In the breast cancer group, the effect of Covid-15 anxiety and cleaning behavior on functionality performance was significantly higher in participants with underlying disease (P=0.044, P=0.013)and smoking (P=0.0234, P=0.0147).

As evidenced by the results of this study, smoking and the presence of comorbidity in breast cancer patients may have a negative effect on the functionality effect of fearof Covid-19 infection. In terms of psychiatric intervention, the parameters affected by functionality should be considered.