Background: Addressing the mental health needs of cancer patients and their caregivers improves the quality of care the patient receives in any cancer care ecosystem. International practice currently encourages integrated care for physical and mental health in oncology. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the delivery of healthcare services across the world. The current research paper is on the psycho-oncology service provision for hospitalised cancer patients before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: All patients who were referred to psycho-oncology services during the study period of 1 month, in the two successive years of 2019 and 2020, were included in the study. Retrospective data were collected from the centralised electronic medical records for patients. Data included cancer diagnosis, reason for admission, admitting team and reason for a psychiatric referral. Other parameters that were measured were the timing of the psychiatric assessment, psychiatric diagnosis and psycho-oncology care provided, which included psychological interventions carried out and medications prescribed. The overall institutional data on cancer care provision are also presented in brief to provide context to the psycho-oncology services.Results: Integrated psycho-oncology services reviewed and managed patients round the year in the hospital where the study was conducted. During the 1-month study period, in 2019 and 2020, the total number of hospitalised cancer patients managed by the services was 74 and 52, respectively. During the study period of 2020, 292 patients with cancer who were being treated in the hospital had tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tested on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and 50 members of healthcare staff also tested positive. The most Research

Background Head and neck cancers (HNCs) are one of the commonest cancers in low- and middle-income countries. There is a paucity of data on comorbid psychiatric problems associated with HNCs. The present study is aimed at reporting the pattern of psychiatric caseness in HNC patients who were referred to specialist psycho-oncology service and also investigate the predictors of psychiatric caseness in oral cancer patients. Methods Case records of all patients with HNC referred to an integrated psycho-oncology service over 7 years (October 2011–December 2018) from a cancer hospital were analysed. All patients were assessed by a trained consultant psychiatrist and ICD-10 diagnoses were ascertained based on a clinical interview with the patients and family members. Associations of psychiatric caseness for consecutive oral cancer patients assessed by the psycho-oncology services over 2 years (January 2017–December 2018) were calculated by using univariate and multivariate statistical methods. Simple descriptive statistics of the referred patients were conducted, followed by logistic regression to find the associations of psychiatric caseness in oral cancer patients. Results The psycho-oncology service assessed 771 HNC patients over 7 years. The commonest referrals were patients with oral cancer (75%, 558/771). For the years 2017–2018, 179 consecutive oral cancer patients were evaluated by the psycho-oncology service. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that being a woman (OR = 2.33; 95% CI = 1.02–5.32; p = 0.04); having worries about having pain in the post-operative period (OR = 2.55; 95% CI = 1.2–5.38; p = 0.01); worries about implications of the cancer and its treatment on the family (OR = 3.5; 95% CI = 1.19–10.57; p = 0.02); and longer duration of hospital stay period (OR = 1.08; 95% CI = 1.003–1.16; p = 0.04) were independently associated with psychiatric caseness even after controlling for confounders. Discussion Specialist psycho-oncology services are important in the management of oral cancer patients and in addressing the mental health needs of this very vulnerable group of patients. A combination of psychoeducation, pragmatic psychological interventions and medications were used to treat these patients.

Introduction Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women. In the last few decades, the outcome of breast cancer has improved significantly in terms of survivorship and quality of life. However, it is crucial that alongside managing the disease, breast cancer services address and manage associated or co-occurring psychiatric illnesses such as acute stress reactions, procedural anxieties, adjustment issues, depression, and fear of recurrence, which leads to an overall better experience of the patient. Objective There is a paucity of data on the patterns of psychiatric morbidity in patients with breast cancer who access psycho-oncology services in a naturalistic setup outside research studies from India. The current study focused on exploring this alongside reporting the common treatment methods adopted for this group of patients. Materials and Methods Real-life data from electronic patient records were retrospectively reviewed for all patients with breast cancer accessing integrated psycho-oncology services in a tertiary care hospital in India over three 3 years (2018–2020). The various psychiatric morbidities were reported, along with associated cancer demographic data, disease characteristics, and treatment details. Results Of all the breast cancer patients (n = 338) in the calendar years 2018 to 2020 reviewed by psycho-oncology services, the most common psychiatric diagnosis was depressive illness (n = 100, 29.6%), followed by adjustment disorders (n = 68, 20.1%) and anxiety (n = 66, 19.5%). There was a significant minority with serious enduring mental illnesses such as schizophrenia (n = 11, 3.3%) and bipolar disorders (n = 14, 4.1%). On the other hand, 14.2% (n = 48) of the patients with breast cancer who attended Psycho-oncology outpatient department did not have any psychiatric syndrome. Around 16.3% of patients could be managed without a prescription for any medications and almost half of the patients needed only one psychotropic medicine. Psychological interventions were used for 45.6% of patients. Conclusions Integrated psycho-oncology services in a cancer hospital catering to patients with breast cancer help in psychiatric assessment, diagnosis, and addressing the mental health needs of patients. The treatment offered needs to be nuanced and individualized and may require a combination of psychotropic medications and psychological techniques.