Introduction/Background Cancer threatens human well-being and causes physical and psychological distress. We aimed to evaluate anxiety levels in newly diagnosed gynaecological cancer patients in day hospital and to investigate predictive factors.

Methodology This is a cross-sectional study of 101 patients undergoing chemotherapy in the day hospital, conducted between January –April 2023. A questionnaire was delivered to patients. Patients were evaluated for psychological status using the STAI_Y1 scale. Scores were grouped as follows: > 65: very high, 56–65: high, 46–55: medium, 36–45: low and ≤35: very low. Pearson and Spearman’s tests were used to measure the correlation between anxiety levels and predictors of psychological distress.

Results The medium age was 50 years [26–77], with 78% being over 40 years old. Cancer types were breast cancer in 93%, cervical cancer in 3% and ovarian cancer in 4%. The majority were treated with curative intent for the early stage (89%). At the moment of the questionnaire, 60% were undergoing their first chemotherapy session. Demographic features showed: 79% of patients were married, 36% had a university level, 69% had a job, 66% had a good financial situation and 92% came from an urban environment. Patients had a family member having experienced chemotherapy in 43% of cases. In the day hospital, the anxiety scores were very high at 17%, high at 19%, medium at 33%, low at 27% and very low at 4%. Undergoing the first chemotherapy session and living in an urban environment showed significant correlations with high or very high anxiety scores (p=0.008 and 0.028 respectively). Young age, level of education, marital status, and financial situation showed no significant correlation with anxiety level.

Conclusion The first session of chemotherapy seems to be associated with high levels of distress which bring attention to the role of patient support especially during this time of the therapy journey.

Disclosures No financial interest