心理压力与癌症患者的身体症状严重程度、痛苦程度和死亡率增加有关。因此，心理护理如今被视为改善癌症患者生活质量的基本工具。从2021年9月到2022年5月，我们在圣加白耶洛大医院的医学肿瘤科单元进行了一项观察性研究，纳入了170名新诊断的癌症患者。在开始肿瘤治疗之前，他们接受了Kessler 10（K10）测试，这是一种对过去四周的非特异性心理压力症状进行验证的测量工具。根据分数，他们被分为三组：轻度 [10-19]，中度 [20-29] 和高度 [30-50] 的心理压力。经过3个月的心理疗法后，他们重新进行了测试。大多数患者为女性（74.1%），年龄小于70岁（78.2%）。最常见的肿瘤类型是乳腺癌（47.6%），结肠癌（15.3%），尿路上皮癌（10.6%）和肺癌（7.6%），大多数患者接受静脉化疗治疗（74.7%），而不是口服治疗。还评估了患者的既往病理史和家族癌症史。最后，记录了婚姻状况、受教育程度和就业状况。在基线测试中，我们发现有55人属于低心理压力组，72人属于中度心理压力组，43人属于高心理压力组。经过3个月的心理治疗后，我们重新进行了K10测试，发现心理压力程度显著改善（96人得到了较低的分数，62人得到了中度分数，只有12人得到了高分数）。K10分数的显著降低具有极显著的统计学意义（P值<0.0001）。K10分数的降低在所有子组中都无差别。在不同受教育程度的患者之间观察到了统计学显著差异（低教育程度组降低了56%的K10分数，而高教育程度组降低了32%的K10分数）。此外，失业患者的心理健康改善程度大于就业者。K10测试的使用有助于监测癌症诊断和即将开始肿瘤治疗的患者的心理压力程度。心理疗法在患者开始治疗后仅仅几个月内就能有效缓解这些患者的心理压力。

Psychological distress has been associated with greater physical symptom severity, suffering, and mortality in cancer patients. For this reason, today, psychological care represents a fundamental tool for improving the quality of life of cancer patients.From September 2021 to May 2022, 170 newly diagnosed cancer patients, were enrolled in the observational study at Medical Oncology Unit, "San Giovanni di Dio" Hospital. Before the start of oncological treatment, they were subjected to the Kessler 10 (K10) test, a validated measure of non-specific symptoms of psychological distress of the past 4 weeks. On the basis of the score, they were divided into three groups: low [10-19], moderate [20-29] and high [30-50] distress. After 3 months of psychological therapy, they repeated the test.Majority of patients were female (74.1%), aged <70 years (78.2%). The most represented tumours were breast (47.6%), colon (15.3%), urothelial (10.6%) and lung (7.6%) cancer and most patients started intravenous chemotherapy treatment (74.7%) rather than oral therapy. The previous remote pathological history and the family cancer history of the patients were also evaluated. Finally, marital status, schooling and employment status were recorded. At baseline we found 55, 72, and 43 patients with a low, moderate and high psychological distress, respectively. After the 3 months of psychotherapy, we re-administered the K10 test and we found a radical improvement in the degree of psychological distress (96 patients had a low score, 62 with a moderate score and just 12 patients with a high score). The great reduction in the score in K10 was statistically significant with a P value of <0.0001. The reduction of the K10 score was observed indiscriminately in all subgroups analysed. A statistically significant difference was observed between patients with different education levels (low 56% vs. high 32% of reduction in K10 score). Furthermore, the improvement in psychological health was greater in unemployed patients than in workers.The use of the K10 test is helpful in monitoring the degree of psychological distress of patients facing the diagnosis of cancer and who are about to start oncological treatment. Psychotherapy is effective in reducing the distress of these patients just a few months after starting treatment.