Cancer information overload and death anxiety predict health anxiety

We aimed to investigate the relationship between health anxiety, cancer information overload and death anxiety in caregivers of inpatient cancer patients.

A total of 92 inpatient cancer patients' caregivers were included the study. A sociodemographic information form, Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA), Health Anxiety Scale (HAS), Cancer Information Overload Scale (CIO) were given to participants to respond.

Participants with high HAS scores were compared with those with low HAS scores; the rate of employed persons was less (n=16, 34.8% vs. n=30, 65.2%, p=0.006), income status was more likely to be very low/low (n=23, 50.0% vs. n=6, 13.0%, p<0.001) and research on cancer was more common (n=39, 84.8%, p<0.001). Median (IQR) CIO [24.0 (21.75-28.0) vs. 13.5 (11.0-18.25), p<0.001] and ASDA total [69.0 (62.0-77.0) vs. 41.0 (33.75-58.0), p<0.001] scores were higher in the group with high HAS score than in the group with low HAS score. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that a moderate/high-income status [odds ratio (OR) 0.114, 0.013-0.986 95% confidence interval (CI), p=0.049], CIO score (OR 1.354, 1.106-1.658 95% CI, p=0.003) and ASDA total score (OR 1.079, 1.021-1.141 95% CI, p=0.007) were independent predictive factors for a high HAS score.

Death anxiety and CIO are crucial determinants of health anxiety. More research in multi-dimensional design is needed to obtain additional information about the relationship between death anxiety, CIO and health anxiety.