Investigating the Needs of Patients Suffering from Chronic Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study

Chronic diseases represent a huge challenge for the health systems globally due to the rapidly increasing number of patients and their long-term need for healthcare. The purpose of this study was to investigate the needs of patients suffering from chronic diseases.

This is a cross-sectional study. The study population consisted of 840 adults with chronic diseases. The data collection was done with an improvised needs survey questionnaire, which included 56 questions. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, v.25.0, statistical significance being considered at p < 0.05.

The main diseases of the patients were chronic renal failure (22.6%), multiple sclerosis (19%), cancer (19%), diabetes mellitus (7.1%), dementia (6%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (6%). The majority of patients (82.1%) were sick for more than 24 months. Patients seek information from health professionals (4.07 ± 1.4), feel tired (4.05 ± 1.4), have to share their feelings with other family members (4.01 ± 1.4), feel anxious about the future (3.94 ± 1.3), and feel out of control (3.80 ± 1.5).

Patients with chronic diseases suffer from numerous physical, mental, emotional, and cognitive problems. Paying attention to the unmet needs of patients could have beneficial effects on both patients and their caregivers.