Patients with blood cancer – including leukaemia, myeloma, and lymphoma – experience higher psychological distress from risk of COVID-19 infection and unmet needs, finds new research
Over a year into the pandemic, we have all felt the effects at this point. But the disruptions and stress haven’t been spread evenly across the population and the health effects are often broader than first recognised.
For over 110,000 people in Australia living with blood cancer – including leukaemia, myeloma, and lymphoma – the challenges they already face have been exacerbated during the pandemic.
Every day, 47 Australians are newly diagnosed with blood cancers. As a life-threatening illness, a blood cancer diagnosis can produce significant levels of psychological distress for both patients and their loved ones. Now the COVID-19 pandemic has only heightened this distress.
WHY HAS COVID-19 HAD SUCH AN IMPACT ON THIS POPULATION?
People living with blood cancer are a particularly vulnerable subgroup of cancer patients because these diseases begin in the blood cells of the immune system, the very cells that we normally rely on to fight off infection.
Continue reading the original publication on The Limbic here.